Open Mic Poetry Night (Friday, 30 April, 7pm)

May I listen to you speak
Your mind
Openly with no cause
But effect
My ears are your mic
My night yours
Tonight.

"Literally" a Volcano of Ash

Have you been following the plume of volcanic ash as it travels from west to east (the prevailing direction of winds, planetary spinning, etc)?

Talk about over-reaction! I am not speaking of the National Air Traffic Control Service of the UK or the governments of all northern EU. I am discussing yet again the over- usage of the word "literally," which had been literally used twice, count them: twice by one Tim Smith, airline spokesperson, in an NPR piece last Friday. Was it emphasis or to ensure we listeners really, really understand that 56 is a large number of flights to cancel and that "two or three" times are quite a few times to have hopes dashed for a resumption of air travel to northern Europe?  When I heard this piece as I drove west on I-290 (known in Chicago as "the Eisenhower"), I literally almost ran into the car in front of me. (ha ha)  No, seriously, folks, this has all been riveting news.  And, I give credit to all the media people attempting to pronounce properly the name of the volcano and giving us albeit conflicting tips on our pronouncing it on our own (say, for coffeetime discussion?).

We pulled some volcano-related books from our shelves for those more curious about the whole topic of volcanos:

Volcano Cowboys, about the scientists who have taken extraordinary means to advance the study of volcanos and their work with Mt St Helens after its 1980 eruption, is currently "indefinitely-out-of-stock-at-publisher," so we have one of the few copies left around (unless there's another bookstore even crazier than we are regarding our esoteric choice of remainders).  Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 is by Simon Winchester, a marvelous writer whose bailiwick is tackling many historic science-related subjects.

CAA Student and Star Grandson Jack Dunphy Selected for CineYouth Festival!

The film "Tom’s Christmas" by Chicago Academy for the Arts filmmaker Jack Dunphy (CAA’11 - pictured below) has been selected for the 2010 CineYouth Festival, presented by Cinema/Chicago.  The festival “showcases and celebrates... the talent and unique vision coming from filmmakers 20 years old and younger.” You can see "Tom’s Christmas" during an official screening at Columbia College early in May; more details can be found here.

Supreme Courtship

Christopher Buckley is not everyone's cup of tea, as some find his humor too farcical.  However, in this political climate where confrontation and partisanship are apparently the keys to the American masses' hearts, Supreme Courtship, first published in 2008, may not be that far off the mark, as we all gird our loincloths or take a deep breath to see what happens now with United States Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens ready to step down.  I remember when he was nominated by President Ford, thinking why do they have to mention his middle name, like that would make him more patriotic, having a patriot's name.  It probably tipped the balance.  I am still stunned that Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed last year with minimal haranguing, posturing, one-upmanship, whatever.  In this book, you'll find out that unless you keep your opinions to yourself (from age 1 or at least from 7th grade), you might lose your chance to be a Supreme Court Justice.


I found an interesting item in the New York Times online regarding the "greenness" of e-books versus printed, bound ones.

Announcing Books on First's Annual "April is Poetry Month" Open Mic 30 April

National Poetry Month starts off beautifully and with a bang, what with every media outlet and news feature program showing "Million's Poet," and Hissa Hillal (see our blogpost: April is Poetry Month), but Books on First will help end the month the same way, with our own Open Mic Poetry Night, on Friday, 30 April, at 7pm.  Come support local poets and performance artists as well as present your own or your favorite poets' works.

Meanwhile, enjoy this wonderful video reading & interview of Marie Ponsot and Edward Hirsch, courtesy of Wall Street Journal online.

Good Friday is a Great Evening for Some Swing!

 *SPECIAL NIGHT* TONIGHT!  April 2, 7-9 pm -- 
A session of jazz & swing favorites by Kathy Cecchetti, Jim Miller, Gary Johnson & Joe Pasteris (aka The Ronald Reagan Swing Jazz Band)!!

We are admittedly a little worried, as people take off from Dixon and surrounding environs for parts unknown that the crowd will be thin.  This, I have heard, will be the last performance for the group in this form, so if you are in town, please do come down after church and supper and enjoy!

Hail, Hail, the iPad's Here

So, the much anticipated iPad arrives on Saturday. It looks like iBooks gets a thumbs up from the Wall St Journal Walt Mossberg, who says reading on it is a much better experience than on Kindle.

However, iBooks will not come pre-installed on purchased iPads, giving all e-book software a chance to be the one.  I wonder, though, whether, an iPad could have more than one e-bookstore software loaded.  One would ask, why?  Well, we have both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox installed on our systems, because sometimes, one works better than the other.  What if amazon.com does not have a title that the iPad reader wants?  That's where free enterprise comes in.

Really interesting is the pricing situation.   Publishers need to find the right talent for their organizations, a balanced blend between business-savvy and literature-passionate individuals.

April is Poetry Month

The biggest letdown I have reading New Zealander Graham Beattie's blog is not being able to get the books he discusses for our store!  We hear that frustration also when customers with friends in UK or elsewhere come in to find a book that their friends are raving about.  Sometimes, a book takes years, if ever, to migrate and be published across the pond (or from New Zealand, across several oceans).  When I first heard about Harry Potter taking UK by a storm, I was frustrated that we could not get it here.  Of course, nobody cared, because nobody had heard of the series.  Only after three titles in the series were published in Great Britain did it start here.  It created such an immediate excitement that the fourth book was released almost simultaneously in UK and here, and the rest, as they say, is history.

This "darn it!" moment comes often when I read about poetry books.  Fiona Kidman's new book Where Your Left Hand Rests, 2010 Costa Poetry Prize Winner Christopher Reid's  A Scattering, ... the list could go on.

Moreover, I guess I can be missing good stuff on television.  I just discovered an "American Idol" type program in Abu Dhabi in which performance is all about reciting one's own poetry.  It looks great!  And, some of the lines of Hissa Hillal, the featured poet in this NPR piece, as translated, are quite impressive.  Although it is difficult to judge poetry by brilliant lines, she does appear to be a top runner in "Million's Poet"  (I love when praise of a book of poetry include quotes like, "Some lines are so piercingly beautiful,..." or "In so-and-so's writing, a line might shine so brilliantly, it can blind you."  Heck, anyone can write a brilliant line.  It's the rest of the poem that makes writing poetry so difficult.)  Luckily, the fact that it is not playing on American broadcast television saves us from more comment from those who discuss "The Office," "Modern Family" and "Nurse Jackie" and say, "You see what you're missing without a TV."

However, we do have our fair share of poetry in Downtown Dixon.  Join us on Friday, 16 April, 7pm, for some Open Mic Poetry with Tom Irish presiding. And/Or on Friday, 30 April, 7pm, when I will strive to leave the weekday gig early and arrive at Books on First in time to have fun listening and watching, reciting, reading or performing.