Happy Birthday, Richie Havens!

Shop Indie Bookstores
As you probably already know, Richie Havens was the opening performer at the Woodstock Festival in the summer of 1969. Many years later, my mom and I bumped into the legendary musician while we were strolling around the Guilford Green one summer afternoon. I said "hi" and he gave us a HUGE smile and said "hello" back. It was awesome.



In my opinion, nobody covers the Beatles better than Richie Havens. Check out his rendition of Here Comes the Sun. You can buy it on the official Richie Havens website RichieHavens.com.

It's Only Rock and Roll (or How I Became a Librarian)

Workers from all of our university's libraries are competing for prizes which will be awarded during National Library Week (April 13-19). So far, we've had a Wii tournament, a spelling bee, a ping pong competition, and we're in the midst of an office door decorating contest which I really, really, really want to win.

I just noticed a mistake. It should read It's Only Rock and Roll BUT I Like It.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but my door looks really cool in person. As you can see, it's a collage of all my favorite rock musicians. I used 3-D mounting dots to make the letters and hearts "pop." Each of the paper hearts has a different rock-n-roll quote such as Rock and Roll Never Forgets, I Love Rock and Roll, So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star, Rockin' in the Free World, and, of course, It's Only Rock and Roll (But I Like It).

Jett, Joan. I Love Rock 'n Roll. Los Angeles, Calif: Boardwalk Entertainment Co, 1981.

Featured musicians include Cracker, Patti Smith, The Ramones, Prince, Blondie, The Pretenders, Camper Van Beethoven, and Bruce Springsteen. There are also photocopies of autographs from my collection: Bono (U2), Marty Wilson-Piper (The Church), Johnny Hickman (Cracker and The Dangers), Chris Frantz (Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, and Gorillaz), Mike Peters (The Alarm).*

Talking Heads (Musical group). Little Creatures. New York: Sire, 1985.

You may be wondering what rock music has to do with National Library Week. Well, here's the story . . .

Cutlers, New Haven

I graduated college earlier than I expected, and since I didn't have a career plan in place, I got a full-time job at the biggest and best record store in Connecticut and took a couple of grad school classes at Southern Connecticut State University. One of my good friends who was a grad student and library worker at Yale, suggested that I pursue a career in librarianship.

Southern Connecticut State University

At first I thought she was nuts, but then she explained that all the aspects of record store work that I loved--organizing music (Does Joan Armatrading go in women's music, r&b, folk, or pop?) and hooking listeners up with music I know they will love--I could experience in a library setting. She also pointed out that libraries like to hire people with a basic knowledge of different foreign languages. (I majored in Spanish but I also took beginning German, Italian, and French classes. I can't read any Asian languages, but I can usually tell the alphabets apart.)

Armatrading, Joan. Me Myself I. Hollywood, Calif: A&M Records, 1980.

I was still skeptical, but I agreed to go to the library with her one day to meet her co-workers. Once I walked into the door of Yale's Sterling Memorial Library, I was hooked. It was like walking into a European cathedral. The librarians were incredibly nice and they even offered me a part-time clerical job!

So there you have it--the rock and roll/library connection. Wish me luck!

Havens, Richie, and Steven Davidowitz. They Can't Hide Us Anymore. New York: Spike, 1999.

*I've met other famous musicians--L.L. Cool J., Burning Spear, John Popper, Richie Havens, Taj Mahal--but at the time, I thought I was too cool to ask for their autographs. (Yeah, right!)

I met Joe Lieberman!

Today I worked at the annual Viva Broward festival, signing people up for library cards. It was lots of fun, and I got to meet Senator Lieberman, too!


Even though he is campaigning for the Republican ticket, I have great respect for Senator Lieberman. He went to high school with my mom, and from what I hear, he is truly a mensch. I tried to vote for him back in 2000, but I screwed up and voted for Buchanan by mistake. (Remember that whole hanging chad thing?)

An evening with David Sedaris and my husband

"I recently made the mistake of reading David Sedaris while I was eating lunch. Fortunately, I was alone in my office, so there were no witnesses when I spewed a mouthful of pastrami across my desk. Not one of the 17 autobiographical essays in this new collection failed to make me crack up; frequently I was helpless."

--Craig Seligman, New York Times

David Sedaris

My husband gave me the most wonderful surprise anniversary gift--tickets to see our favorite author, David Sedaris! It was an incredible evening. All of the material was new—Mr. Sedaris didn't even repeat anything from his most recent book, When You Are Engulfed in Flames. Instead, he read unpublished essays and diary entries. He also talked about how much he enjoys going on book tours and meeting his readers in person, and he told us stories about his adventures on the road. For instance, one time he asked if he could work as a ticket scanner before the show, and he couldn’t believe how rude people were. Most didn’t say thank you or bother to take their tickets out of the envelopes for him. He thought to himself, “Do I really want these kind of people coming to my show?”

Sedaris, David. Naked. Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1997.

David Sedaris is one of the nicest authors I've ever met. Marc and I arrived really early and were fifth in line for the book signing. Because there were so many people waiting behind us, I didn't want to take up too much of his time when it was my turn. (I was kind of star struck, too.) Mr. Sedaris encouraged me to talk, though. Here’s our exchange:

Me: Hi, could you please sign this book to Charlotte?

Mr. Sedaris: Sure! And who is Charlotte?

Me: My mother.

Mr. Sedaris: Oh, and where does she live?

Me: In Connecticut.

Mr. Sedaris: I was just in New Haven the other day.

Me: That’s my second favorite city.

Mr. Sedaris: Did you go to Yale?

Me: No, but I worked there.

Mr. Sedaris: Oh, what did you do there?

Me: I worked in the library.

Mr. Sedaris: And which city is first favorite?

Me: New York.

Mr. Sedaris: Really?

Me: Yes, I love New York and New Haven.

I didn’t elaborate because I was too nervous and afraid that I’d say something stupid. I also felt bad for the gazillion people waiting in line behind me. I just thanked him and moved along.

For more about David Sedaris, visit npr.org. Read his books, too. Naked is my favorite, but they are all hysterically funny.

Sedaris, David. Naked.
Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1997.

Sedaris, David. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.

Boston: Little, Brown, 2004.

Sedaris, David. When You Are Engulfed in Flames.
New York: Little, Brown and Co, 2008.


Sedaris, David. Me Talk Pretty One Day.
Boston: Little, Brown & Co, 2000.


Sedaris, David. Barrel Fever: Stories and Essays.
Boston: Back Bay Books, 1994.


Sedaris, David. Holidays on Ice.
Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1997.

Debate

Did you catch last night's debate?Michelle O looked great as always.

I think she is the best dressed First Lady since Jacqueline.

ps. One time my mom and I saw Jackie O at JFK airport. We honored her privacy and pretended not to notice.

pps. Trivia question: What was JFK airport originally called?

Pan Am, Dick Clark, and Jesse Jackson

About 20 years ago, I had a brief career as a Pan Am flight attendant. (After the company declared bankruptcy, I left to go to grad school.) It was a great experience. I got to visit some amazing places and meet a lot of fun people.


I also had the honor of serving legendary politicians, Geraldine Ferraro and Jesse Jackson. (They both looked exhausted, so I left them alone and let them sleep. I would never ask a passenger for an autograph.)

Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press

Photography by John H. White

ps. I also got to meet Dick Clark!

More autographs

More autographs:

Hans Wilhelm, children's book author, circa 1993.

Mort Walker, cartoonist, circa 1977.

Paco, some crazy Spaniard, circa 1986.

Even more autographs!

Virginia Aronson
(In addition to being a great writer, Virginia is also a really cool library patron.)

Steven Kellogg
(Mr. Kellogg is an extremely generous Halloween-treat-giver.)

More autographs

David Sedaris

Judd Winick

Shawn Decker

Autographs

Please allow me to test-drive our new scanner . . .

My Autograph Collection

The 1970's:
Maurice Sendak

The 1980's:

Bono


Chris Frantz

Mike Peters, The Alarm

Marty Willson-Piper, The Church

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.

Sea Hags Revisited

Do you remember the metal band, the Sea Hags? (A million years ago, Kim and I won a trip to San Francisco to see them play.)

ANYWAY,

Their 1989 self-titled album, Sea Hags, has been remastered and is now available on Amazon. Even though I don't generally like metal music, I like this Sea Hags album. It just sounds like good, grimy rock and roll. (This may be due to the fact that it was produced by Guns 'N Roses sound engineer, Mike Clink.) Try it, you may like it!

Even if you're not a Sea Hags fan, you may enjoy this article from the online magazine, Sleaze Roxx. It gives a bit of the band's history and includes an interview with surviving band member, Ron Yocum. I never knew before that Guitar god, Kirk Hammett of Metallica, was one of the band's early mentors. Hammett, who is number 11 on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of 100 Greatest Guitar Players of All Time, produced and played on the demo which landed the Sea Hags a contract with Chrysalis Records.

If by chance you are a metal fan, you may want to check out Chuck Klosterman's book, Fargo Rock City. He gives the Sea Hags a short mention. (Come to think of it, even if you're not a metal fan, you'll probably like Fargo Rock City. Klosterman is a really funny writer.)

Although, the Sea Hags career came to a tragic end, front man, Ron Yocum, is still making good music. And more importantly, he is in good health.

Sea Hags

Back in the eighties when I was working at Cutler's Records in New Haven, I entered (and won!) a coloring contest for grown-ups. I read about the competition in a national magazine for music retailers. The purpose of the contest was to promote the rock band, the Sea Hags. The ad was accompanied by a blank, coloring book-style of the cover of the Sea Hags album. (The actual album cover artwork, pictured below, was done by Rick Griffin and Dave Heffernan.) The winner of the coloring contest would get to "hang with the Hags" in San Francisco.

For some reason, I took this competition very seriously. Every day after work I would go straight home to work on my coloring project. First, I took a bunch of porous watercolor paper and splattered each sheet with a different color of paint, making sure that the brush strokes were visible. Then I cut the colored pages into tiny mosaics and glued them into place on the coloring sheet. I added some gold leaf flecks, waited for it to dry, and shipped it off to Chrysalis Records. A couple of weeks later, I got a call from a Chrysalis rep saying that I had won.

The prize was a 3 day, all expenses paid trip to San Francisco to see the Hags play at the Fillmore. I brought along my good friend, Kim, who also was with me when I met Bono a few years earlier.

Kim and I had a great time in San Francisco. We rode the cable cars, explored Chinatown, and met lots of really nice, friendly people. On our last night, we went to the Fillmore to see the Sea Hags. After the show, the Chrysalis rep brought us backstage to meet the band. The boys were very sweet, and they even told us that we were pretty. We didn't end up "hanging with the Hags," though; we were too scared.

Burning Spear and L.L. Cool J

In the summer of 1986, I worked weekends at a sports logo store in New Haven's Chapel Square Mall. One day, L.L. Cool J stopped by with a group of his friends. My coworkers were dumbstruck, but since I didn't know who he was, I had no problem blabbering away.

The next summer when I was working at Cutler's Records, I got to meet Grammy-winning artist, Burning Spear. I didn't recognize him, though, and I was really stumped when he asked me for his records. Luckily, like a good future librarian, I knew how to conduct a reference interview and we were able to find what he was looking for.

I don't think I've met anyone famous since I moved to Florida ten years ago. If you know of any famous people, please tell them to stop by the library and say hello. I need some new stories. As you can probably tell, I haven't really left the 80's yet.

The movie star

This picture was taken at my 7th birthday party. I'm playing pin the tail on the donkey with my cousins Jo Anne and Allen. You may recognize Allen from his film work; he is best known for his role as the limo driver in The Wedding Singer.

I love all of Allen's movies, but I think he looks especially handsome in Big Daddy. My grandmother (his Aunt Evelyn) really loves 50 First Dates, but she was a little annoyed that Allen didn't pay her a visit when he was in Connecticut filming Mr. Deeds.

You can check out Allen's movies at our library, or buy them at Amazon or Barnes and Noble. DVD's make great Christmas and Chanukah gifts. They're so easy to wrap! And speaking of Chanukah, Allen is featured on Adam Sandler's comedy album What the Hell Happened to Me which includes the hit single, The Chanukah Song.

Tom Tom Club

Tom Tom Club. New York, N.Y.: Sire, 1987. Sound recording.

This Tom Tom Club album is one of my favorites. I love the cover--it was done by the Brooklyn artist, James Rizzi.

Back in the '80s, I worked at Cutler's which is a huge independent record store in New Haven, Connecticut. One day my friend from high school, George Marinatos, came by to say hello. I asked what he was doing in the neighborhood, and he told me that he had stopped by Toad's Place to meet up with Chris Frantz. I didn't believe him. I was like, "you know Chris Frantz the drummer from the Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club? I don't believe you. Get me an autograph to prove it."

About 20 minutes later, George returned with Chris's autograph. I was shocked. I took off work early and went over to Toad's to see for myself. The Tom Tom Club was just finishing up their sound-check. When they were done, I walked over to the stage to say hello and introduce myself. Chris Frantz said something like, "Oh, you're George's friend." I said, "You're my favorite band." And he said, "Thank you. That's so nice to hear."

George Marinatos was a really unique kid. He didn't talk much, but everybody loved him. George was good friends with the reggae musician, Ziggy Marley. This was weird because we lived in a small New England town and Ziggy Marley lived in Jamaica. Back in 1988, Chris Frantz and his wife Tina Weymouth had just finished producing Ziggy's platinum-selling album, Conscious Party. This album included the hit single, Tomorrow People.

ps. Visit the official Tom Tom Club site. You will like it!

More Springsteen connections

In 2005, the band U2 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Bruce Springsteen was the presenter.

Back in 1983, my friends and I got to meet the lead singer of U2, Bono. All we had to do was sneak into the garage of the New Haven Coliseum after a show. (I think we got away with it because we were just kids.) We talked with artists Marshall Crenshaw and the Alarm who opened the show. And then . . . Bono strolled in! We were totally starstruck. I just shook Bono's hand, stared at him, and said,"Gloria is my favorite song EVER."

Learning something new every day

Today Cathy from Archives showed me how to use a scanner. It was pretty easy! I scanned some old photos onto a CD, opened a Flickr account, and uploaded the pictures onto it. I'm still playing around with Flickr. It's a little more complicated than I had expected.

This photograph is one of my most cherished possessions. It was taken back in 1983 when my high school's madrigal singing group performed for Pope John Paul II. Can you tell which one is me?