Record Store Day & National Library Week

Since Record Store Day and National Library Week collided this year on April 19th, I celebrated by gathering  library quotes from some of my favorite record players.

I met my wife Elizabeth when she was a library assistant in college I frequented the library often and my grades went up. 
--Mike Bortke

As a wee Beatle-infected child at home in my room, reading about music was the perfect companion to listening TO music … especially after the parental units had yelled in the direction of my record player: "Turn that DOWN!" Once I "grew up" (sort of) and became an actual music maker myself though, the library was always the ideal place on the road on tour to settle down and let ones ears cool off. Until whoever was driving the van would yell "C'mon Gary, let's Go! We're LATE!"
--Gary Pig Gold

I used to read Rolling Stone in my school library. It was there that I first saw pictures of the CBGB crowd....some of whom are my friends to this day!
--Richard Citroen

 I had two greet aunts who were Oakland librarians for over forty years each. One became head of purchasing as well as the History archives. She dropped out of high school to work at the library. The other was branch librarian. The love of libraries runs in the family.
-- Christie Eikeberg Sulaiman

Without books and films, I would never have picked up a pen in earnest…
--Alan Moore


ps. Don't worry if you missed Record Store Day. To make up for it, I recommend pre-ordering the new Camper Van Beethoven album, El Camino Real. Every day is a good day to buy music.

Sparklehorse

Today is a sad day in rock history. Mark Linkous, the genius behind Sparklehorse, took his own life. Here is a link to a brief Rolling Stone Magazine article about his passing.

Here are two of my favorite Sparklehorse songs:




ps. Sick of Goodbyes was co-written by David Lowery of Cracker.

Rock 'til you drop

Here are just a few of my favorite guitar players:

Moments of Pleasure

Kate Bush's Moments of Pleasure is one of my very favorite songs. It's from her 1993 album, The Red Shoes.

Bush, Kate. The Red Shoes. New York: Columbia, 1993.

I think these lines are especially beautiful:

On a balcony in New York
It's just started to snow
He meets us at the lift
Like Douglas Fairbanks
Waving his walking stick
But he isn't well at all
The buildings of New York
Look just like mountains through the snow

Here's the video:




Kate Bush is a very intriguing character. She was discovered by Pink Floyd's David Gilmour when she was only sixteen. She is probably most famous for her 1978 hit single, Wuthering Heights.

Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. London: Thomas Cautley Newby, 1846.

To learn more about Kate Bush's career, I recommend reading this article by Holly Kruse. This bio from the official Kate Bush website is also very good.

Here is a review of Bush's latest album, Aerial: rollingstone.com. I'm embarrassed to admit that I haven't listened to it yet. For the time being, I am quite content just to play Moments of Pleasure over and over and over again.

Rooting for Britney

I hope Britney does well tonight at the VMA's. Even though I'm not crazy about her style of music or clothing, I always root for her to get her life back together.

I don't like Uncle Kracker . . .

. . . but I love Uncle David . . .

Don't you just hate it when people get Cracker confused with Uncle Kracker? Check out what David Lowery had to say about it in this Rolling Stone interview.

But enough about me . . .

Jancee Dunn's memoir, But Enough About Me . . . A Jersey Girl's Unlikely Adventures Among the Absurdly Famous is a perfect mix of rock journalism and chick lit. Growing up in New Jersey in the eighties, Jancee dreams of working for Rolling Stone Magazine:

"Surely I was the kind of person Rolling Stone was searching for: a Jersey girl who pulled B's and C's in a state school, with long hooker-red nails and a passable knowledge of music."

Then a miracle occurs. While waiting in line for the bathroom at a house party, Jancee befriends an RS staffer who gets her an interview. Jancee charms her way into a position as an editorial assistant, quickly moves up the career ladder to become a head writer, and the adventure begins.

Each chapter of But Enough About Me opens with a rock star interview, and then segues into stories of the author's adventures in the big city.

If you like reading Rolling Stone, Spin, and CMJ magazines, you will love reading this book. If you like reading chick lit books such as The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing, Bridget Jones's Diary, and Tabloid Love, you will love this book. If you like reading trashy, yet well-written stories about sex & drugs & rock & roll such as Los Angeles Diaries, Chuck Klosterman IV, and Dry, you will also like this book.

Check out But Enough About Me . . . A Jersey Girl's Unlikely Adventures Among the Absurdly Famous by Jancee Dunn at your local library. If your library doesn't own a copy, ask your friendly librarian to get it for you via interlibrary loan. I.L.L. is a free service that many people don't know about yet. Libraries from around the world lend each other books for FREE. Isn't that incredible? Think of all the money you could have saved on college text books!

BTW, I think Jancee Dunn is the coolest rock chick in the world, plus she's smart, funny, and stylish. Wouldn't she make a great best friend? Take away the sex & drugs, and she reminds me of my friends Colette, Pam, Nel, Carrie, Meagan, Laurie, and Alyson. Add the sex & drugs & rock & roll, and she reminds me of my comedian friend, Vanessa. Jancee Dunn will probably remind you of someone you know, too.

Del.icio.us?

One of my goals for the week is to learn about the social bookmarking site, del.icio.us. I hate to admit it, but I'm still a little skeptical about all of this DIY cataloging. Dewey and Elsie have always served us well, so why reinvent the wheel?

It turns out that I already have a del.icio.us account! A few weeks ago I wanted to add a comment to a Rolling Stone Magazine post, but I had to sign up for a del.icio.us account first. I signed up, left a comment, and forgot all about it.

I just spent a couple of hours playing around with my del.icio.us account. The time just flew by! I exported the bookmarks from my home computer onto my del.icio.us account, edited them, and now they look much neater. Nice! Can't wait to clean up my work bookmarks, too.