Andre Williams, aka Mr. Rhythm, whose talkin’ R&B dance-dittys, Bacon Fat, Greasy Chicken, Pass the Biscuits Please, Ribs n' Tips, and the immortal Jail Bait hit the charts during the mid-late 1950s but whose career later hit the skids, followed by a descent into an alcohol and drugs-fueled skid-row life, has got his mojo workin’ once again with his first literary effort.Sweets and Other Stories is a fictional narrative that takes readers on a wild, edgy ride from Chicago to Houston, New Orleans, and New York City, as a teenage girl finds herself in a family way, without, alas, a...
They Laughed When I Sat Down To Read Piano 300
On March 8, 2000, the National Museum of American History opened Piano 300 in the Smithsonian Institution's International Gallery in Washington D.C.Celebrating the tricentennial of the piano’s introduction in Florence by Bartolomeo Cristofori, this outstanding exhibition was seen by more than 330,000 visitors from around the world during its twenty-month run.I’m a sucker for great exhibition catalogs, and that which accompanied Piano 300 is one of the most interesting and visually rewarding that I’ve seen in quite awhile. It is, arguably, be the best, most concise volume about the instrument there is with chapters that include: Early Stages; The Rise...
The Beat of the Bullet, The Rhythm of the Book
The Associated Press recently reported a story that’s positively biblical, with a good beat, and that you can dance to:Dad, 83, Accused of Opening Fire on Drumming Son Oct 16th, 2009 | SAN ANTONIO -- San Antonio police are investigating the wounding of a man after his elderly father allegedly opened fire when the victim refused to stop drumming. Police said the son, in his 50s, suffered a non-life threatening head wound early Friday while at the home the men share. Police said his 83-year-old father was detained on an aggravated assault charge.They’ll wind up throwing the book at this...
Mumford & Sons Plays the Bookshop
With a name like Mumford & Sons you might be thinking law firm or publisher or perhaps an accounting or construction firm but no, Mumford & Sons is a group of literate twentysomethings out of London who play folk music and love books.In preparation for their upcoming tour the band played two gigs at used bookshops on Charing Cross Road! They shows, at Quinto and Any Amount of Books, are part of a campaign to save the endangered independent bookshop.Nearly half the songs on their upcoming album Sigh No More, are inspired by books. One song "Timshel", has its roots...