Ethan Hawke, Another Honourary Canadian
Post by Philip Turner.
If you loved the movie “Boyhood,” you’ll want to listen to this interview. If you haven’t seen the film yet, here’s the trailer.
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Jill Barber’s US Tour 9/22-9/30—Stopping at NY Joe’s Pub Sept 25
A heads-up to music fans in Ann Arbor, Cambridge/Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, DC/Virginia, and Pittsburgh: Beginning Sept 22, Canadian chanteuse Jill Barber will embark on a mini-tour of the US with her superb band, debuting her her new album, “Fool’s Gold” for US audiences. In NYC, she’ll be playing at Joe’s Pub, the same venue where I heard her play in 2012, a fantastic show. This is a write-up of that performance, in which I wrote, “Barber exuded a winsome charm, unselfconscious glamour, and improvised with light banter between songs. She sings in a distinctive tone that is the aural equivalent of B Grade maple syrup—my favorite kind—sweet and smoky.” Her repertoire, most of which she writes herself or co-writes, sung in English and French, evokes classic torch music. If you’re looking for a great evening of romantic music, come out and hear her one of the cities below or buy a copy of “Fool’s Gold.” See tour details below.
09/22 Ann Arbor, MI – The Ark
09/24 Cambridge, MA – Regattabar
09/25 New York, NY – Joe’s Pub
09/27 Philadelphia, PA – Tin Angel
09/28 Vienna, VA – Jammin’ Java
09/30 Pittsburgh, PA – Club Cafe 
09/22 Ann Arbor, MI – The Ark
09/24 Cambridge, MA – Regattabar
09/25 New York, NY – Joe’s Pub
09/27 Philadelphia, PA – Tin Angel
09/28 Vienna, VA – Jammin’ Java
09/30 Pittsburgh, PA – Club Cafe
A Most Enjoyable Rock n’ Roll Video w/the Arkells
The Arkells are a great power pop 5-piece band from Hamilton, Ontario that I’ve heard live and enjoy very much. I last wrote about them in 2013 with these pics from that show, a shot of the band in action, and me with lead singer Max Kerman.
Today, I found a video they’ve recently done that casts the five bandmates with their fathers. It’s funny and kind of sweet. I hope you enjoy it as I have.
Elephant Stone, Mercury Lounge, Sept 9, 7:30 PM
I’m eager to hear the great sitar-inflected psychedelic band from Montreal, Elephant Stone Tuesday nite at the Mercury Lounge in NYC. They’ll be playing songs from their new album “The Three Poisons.” I’ve heard them play before and really enjoyed their blend of psychedelic sounds and bright pop harmonies. Come hear them if you think you’d like rock music that sounds like the Byrds crossed with an Indian influence. For his part, frontman Rishi Dhir (shown here on sitar) has playfully dubbed their sound ‘Hindi rock.’ Below are the details on their tour of the US Northeast.
MON 09/08 Burlington, VT | The Monkey House
TUE 09/09 NYC, NY | Mercury Lounge
WED 09/10 Washington, DC | Black Cat
THU 09/11 Brooklyn, NY | Rock Shop
FRI 09/12 Philadelphia, PA | Milk Boy
SAT 09/13 Asbury Park, NJ |The Saint
Making Toronto a World Class Music City
Post by Philip Turner.
As I’d documented as recently as this past June, when I posted here about my visit to Toronto for the annual NXNE festival, the city has a fabulous music scene, with many great local bands and dozens of superb venues. I’m excited to see that now a coalition of artists, promoters, and civic officials have banded together to promote the cultivation of music as an economic driver in the city. View the video here or above: http://ow.ly/Ba3kh
President Obama, Strolling around Stonehenge
Post by Philip Turner.
Glad to see our hard-working Pres enjoying one of the world’s great wonders. Not surprisingly, right-wingers, many of whom probably don’t have a passport, are criticizing him for making this stop. Such know-nothings and idiots. From the look of it, some of them think he flew deliberately to Britain, just to see the ancient site, not conceding he had already been in Wales.
#FridayReads, Sept 5–George C. Chesbro’s “In the House of Enemies,” w/Mongo the Magnificent
#FridayReads—In the House of Secret Enemies by George C. Chesbro, ten short stories featuring one of the all-time greatest detective series characters, Mongo the Magnificent, aka Robert Frederickson, Ph.D.—former headlining acrobat performer for the Statler Bros Circus; black belt in karate; criminology professor at a New York City university; and dwarf. I found this mass-market paperback, a 1990 Mysterious Press edition, when I browsed and shopped at Myopic Books on Milwaukee Ave in Chicago last month, a great second-hand store with a really extensive inventory. The collection also includes a revealing intro by Chesbro, “The Birth of a Series Character,” explaining how he came to dream up the character of Mongo, and how he persevered despite little encouragement from editors, at least at the beginning. After the intro, Chesbro offers notes before each tale explaining the role that the story played in his ongoing development of the character. These stories were all written before he dared put Mongo in a full-length novel—hell, before he even knew if he could write a Mongo novel, and whether the emerging character could bear the weight of a full-length book, leave alone find it accepted by a publisher—so each of these stories was a key experiment in character creation and development. The collection is full of great writing and shop-talk. I read the first few Mongo novels when I operated my bookstore, Undercover Books, but haven’t read one in many years. I love mystery series publishing, with so many great and memorable characters, such as Michael Connelly’s LAPD detective Harry Bosch, Archer Mayor’s Vermont police detective Joe Gunther, Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache, and Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallander. Now, I gotta find more of Chesbro’s Mongo titles, which combine two of my favorite enthusiasms—the circus and detective fiction! For more info on Mongo and Chesbro—who died, sadly, in 2008, but was around long enough to republish many of the fifteen Mongo titles in POD editions under his own Apache Beach imprint—I suggest you visit the author’s Wikipedia page and this site, Dangerous Dwarf.
Flashing Back to the Past–Me at Undercover Books in 1983
Undercover Books, the bookstore operated by my two siblings, Joel and Pamela, and our parents, Earl and Sylvia, opened for business on May 4, 1978. Five years later, we were enough of a fixture in the community that a local newspaper was arranging interviews with us, to talk about books, and the business. They did one on me, and one on Pam. When I visited her in Cleveland last month, I was surprised to see them preserved in a scrapbook she had. Here’s the one they did on me. To read the entire column, click on the image and pause the slideshow as it comes on-screen.
