Update: David Amram Appearance Rescheduled for May 12th

Due to unforseen circumstances, the April 4th appearance of musician and Beat figure David Amram has been postponed. Mr. Amram will now speak at Greenwich Library on May 12th at 3:00 pm in the second floor Meeting Room. I'll be sending updates as the May date nears.

To give you a taste of his upcoming appearance, here's a brief, 3 1/2 minute video of Mr. Amram at his farm playing one of the many instruments from his collection:




-Ed

Related link: David Amram's Home Page

Disability Etiquette For Librarians

Here from the Missouri State Library and the Missouri Department of Mental Health is a feature on how to help and respond to patrons with disabilities:



For further inforamtion, you can go to the Librarian411 site. -Ed

I Spy: Home To Judgement

This is the I Spy episode (written by star Robert Culp) we'll be playing on March 19th's Classic and Cult Television program. For more details, go here -Ed

Jazz Composer & Beat Figure David Amram to appear at Greenwich Library April 4th

After a short hiatus, Greenwich Library's Beat Generation Discussion Series returns Friday, April 4th at 2:00 pm, with special guest speaker David Amram. Mr. Amram is an accomplished Jazz and Classical musician/composer who's worked with the likes of Leonard Bernstein and Charles Mingus. He also composed the title song and theme music for the 1959 experimental film Pull My Daisy written by and starring Beat author Jack Kerouac . Mr. Amram is also the author of three books about his life and career, the most recent of which is Upbeat: Nine Lives of a Musical Cat (Paradigm; 2007), that he'll read from.

Below is a video of a 2002 performance of Mr. Amram and his band:



Mr. Amram has his own web site, which you can find here . He will also discuss his work 50 years ago with Jack Kerouac when they created the first jazz poetry readings ever presented in New York City in 1957, as well as reading from his second book Offbeat: Collaborating with Jack Kerouac (Thunders' Mouth Press; 2002). Mr. Amram will also demonstrate some of the instruments from around the world which he has learned to play.




The program will begin at 2:00 pm in the Meeting Room, open to all.

-Ed

New Mental and Physical Health Coverage Bill Passed

Some good news from the Washington Post for the emotionally and physically disabled. -Ed

Related link: Coverage FAQs

In Order to Cover Stuff the Library Doesn't Have Access To....

...I've begun a new blog. One I can use to cover (in a non-litigious way, I hope) items not carried or handled by the library, like out-of-print books & video. The first posting is here.

Some topics MAY overlap, however. For example, I will be reviewing two of Italian director Segio Corbucchi's "spaghetti westerns", 1966's Django and 1967's The Hellbenders , both of which the library carries on DVD, on my own blog.



Meanwhile, I'll keep this blog going to inform readers of upcoming library-related events & items of interest. -Ed

Sixties' Garage Bands From Connecticut (No, Really!)

(Right: The Shags.)


In the mid-1960s, the state of Connecticut actually did have popular garage rock bands on the radio. Local groups influenced by such bands as The Beatles, The Byrds, The Rascals, Them and others, ruled, for a brief time, the Connecticut airwaves. Now, Sundazed Music has put together a nice CD (& vinyl LP!) collection of these bands, Don't Press Your Luck! The In Sounds of 60s Connecticut. The album features choice cuts from 1966-68 of such bands as The Shags, the Bram Rigg Set, the Wildweeds (who formed the foundation for the later NRBQ) and the Lively Ones. All these groups' singles were local hits heard between New Haven and Hartford, and beyond. This article from the NY Times gives a little bit of background on some of the groups, as well as Walliford-based producer Thomas "Doc" Cavalier.

Yep, I've ordered this for the library. Despite some rough production, the CD provides a good showcase for these bands that never were able to break through nationally but became, for a brief time, local heroes to the kids. The performers themselves were mostly high school & college kids, whose bands broke up due to outside realities, like school/college graduation and the draft, among other factors. But the sense of fun and enthusiasm these guys had in their prime becomes totally infectious with each listen. -Ed

Links: From 1967: The Wildweeds on YouTube