About two dozen readers participated in Orangeburg's Summer Reading Raffle - the breadth of selections was impressive! Everything from popular fiction, crime, adventure and mystery attracted readers. Have you ever discovered an author that you REALLY liked? Tracked down and devoured everything they've ever written and begged for more? We have a new tool available here (or available via the web) to help the reader finds books based on similarities between authors, content, or genre. The Fiction Connection offers the user the ability to search an extensive collection of material and discover links to books they might not find if they limited themselves to just browsing the shelves - here is a link to Fiction Connection:
http://www.rcls.org/db/org/pbipgate.html
You can login from home, too! Have your library card handy.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix
Funny how my commute takes me across the Tappan Zee Bridge twice a day - there was a time when crossing the Hudson marked a transition from suburban Westchester to 'upstate' which to me represents more a state of mind than place. A significant benefit of the daily ride has been the addition of recorded books to my life - and I will try to tie together a Hudson crossing from 1969 with Charles Cross's excellent 2005 biography of Jimi Hendrix, Room Full of Mirrors, now available as an audio dvd.
"You can leave if you want to. I'm just jammin'."
My ride is about 30 minutes - there are 11 CDs in the package. I find myself fascinated by the story of this man's life. As I drive and listen, I recall three Hendrix previous encounters. First, in the mid-60's I was (I almost said 'student' at, but that's another story) attending the University of Rhode Island. The Isley Brothers played a dance at the student union and I recall a young guitarist who spent the break between sets sitting on the edge of the stage playing his guitar. Several of us, musicians and members of the URI Marching Band, were huddled close, intrigued by this guy's playing. Back-up for various R&B groups gave Hendrix his professional start and he toured with so many bands that Cross was unable to identify them all for his book. But the carefully researched book verified that Hendrix was in fact touring with the Isley's at this time. We didn't know his name, but I am convinced that this was a young Jimi Hendrix. If any further proof was needed, some years later I discovered an Isley Brothers 'remix' featuring Jimi Hendrix in the remainder LPs at Brentano's in White Plains.
My second Hendrix experience was Woodstock, promoted as three days of peace and music. Hendrix was topping the bill, expected to perform the finale on Sunday night. Solo-crossing the Hudson Friday afternoon, after a later than hoped for departure due to work, I was filled with the anticipation that only being West of the Hudson brings. Somewhere east of White Lake, afternoon traffic ground to a halt and I ditched the car at a motel and joined the parade on Rt 17B towards the festival site at Bethel. Many, many hours later, after having spent a wet night in a church yard, I went to rendezvous with my friends near the stage. Ha! The fences were down, it was a free concert and there was scant food, water, or facilities. It was at least 24 hours until Hendrix scheduled appearance Sunday night - I staked out my place on the hillside and enjoyed the Saturday show - from Quill's opening act until the Jefferson Airplane at daybreak on Sunday. Tired, hungry, and dehydrated, I spent Sunday morning strolling the site, half-heartedly looking for my friends from home. While I never found them, I had some success with a beltmaker, swapping two cans of warm Rheingold for a ring-buckle leather belt. I left the site right after that, hiked out to the car. I was back at work Monday morning about the same time that Jimi Hendrix kicked off his epic version of the Star-spangled Banner.
It would be another year before my next Hendrix encounter. Traveling the next summer with a girl that I met the day after Woodstock, we headed south to the Atlanta Pop Festival, we arrived on the 4th of July, 1970. The draw was Hendrix, now at the pinnacle of his fame and career. He'd been selling-out major stadiums across the country, amazing crowds with his astonishing guitar work that included playing with his teeth, behind his back, and his embrace of wah-wah and the electronic manipulation of sound. He was also deep in the embrace of an ever-changing coterie of rock n' roll groupies and a wide range of pharmaceuticals and booze. My friend and I spent the day at the festival site, reveling in the warm day and music. Returning late in the afternoon to the pecan grove where we were camped, we ate, argued, and fell asleep. Only to be awakened at midnight to the familiar strains of the National Anthem as only Hendrix could play it and the sound of fireworks. That September Jimi Hendrix was found dead in a London Hotel room.
My trip is different now - back and forth each day across the Hudson, headed not 'upstate' but to the more mundane world of work. But ensconced in my rolling CD-player, with an entire library's collection from which to choose my riders, I reflect sometimes on just what a strange trip it's been.
Check out Cross's Room Full of Mirrors in print or on CD at the Orangeburg Library.
"You can leave if you want to. I'm just jammin'."
My ride is about 30 minutes - there are 11 CDs in the package. I find myself fascinated by the story of this man's life. As I drive and listen, I recall three Hendrix previous encounters. First, in the mid-60's I was (I almost said 'student' at, but that's another story) attending the University of Rhode Island. The Isley Brothers played a dance at the student union and I recall a young guitarist who spent the break between sets sitting on the edge of the stage playing his guitar. Several of us, musicians and members of the URI Marching Band, were huddled close, intrigued by this guy's playing. Back-up for various R&B groups gave Hendrix his professional start and he toured with so many bands that Cross was unable to identify them all for his book. But the carefully researched book verified that Hendrix was in fact touring with the Isley's at this time. We didn't know his name, but I am convinced that this was a young Jimi Hendrix. If any further proof was needed, some years later I discovered an Isley Brothers 'remix' featuring Jimi Hendrix in the remainder LPs at Brentano's in White Plains.
My second Hendrix experience was Woodstock, promoted as three days of peace and music. Hendrix was topping the bill, expected to perform the finale on Sunday night. Solo-crossing the Hudson Friday afternoon, after a later than hoped for departure due to work, I was filled with the anticipation that only being West of the Hudson brings. Somewhere east of White Lake, afternoon traffic ground to a halt and I ditched the car at a motel and joined the parade on Rt 17B towards the festival site at Bethel. Many, many hours later, after having spent a wet night in a church yard, I went to rendezvous with my friends near the stage. Ha! The fences were down, it was a free concert and there was scant food, water, or facilities. It was at least 24 hours until Hendrix scheduled appearance Sunday night - I staked out my place on the hillside and enjoyed the Saturday show - from Quill's opening act until the Jefferson Airplane at daybreak on Sunday. Tired, hungry, and dehydrated, I spent Sunday morning strolling the site, half-heartedly looking for my friends from home. While I never found them, I had some success with a beltmaker, swapping two cans of warm Rheingold for a ring-buckle leather belt. I left the site right after that, hiked out to the car. I was back at work Monday morning about the same time that Jimi Hendrix kicked off his epic version of the Star-spangled Banner.
It would be another year before my next Hendrix encounter. Traveling the next summer with a girl that I met the day after Woodstock, we headed south to the Atlanta Pop Festival, we arrived on the 4th of July, 1970. The draw was Hendrix, now at the pinnacle of his fame and career. He'd been selling-out major stadiums across the country, amazing crowds with his astonishing guitar work that included playing with his teeth, behind his back, and his embrace of wah-wah and the electronic manipulation of sound. He was also deep in the embrace of an ever-changing coterie of rock n' roll groupies and a wide range of pharmaceuticals and booze. My friend and I spent the day at the festival site, reveling in the warm day and music. Returning late in the afternoon to the pecan grove where we were camped, we ate, argued, and fell asleep. Only to be awakened at midnight to the familiar strains of the National Anthem as only Hendrix could play it and the sound of fireworks. That September Jimi Hendrix was found dead in a London Hotel room.
My trip is different now - back and forth each day across the Hudson, headed not 'upstate' but to the more mundane world of work. But ensconced in my rolling CD-player, with an entire library's collection from which to choose my riders, I reflect sometimes on just what a strange trip it's been.
Check out Cross's Room Full of Mirrors in print or on CD at the Orangeburg Library.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Orangeburg Pipe
Orangeburg Pipe was manufactured in Orangeburg NY from 1893 until 1972. Made from 'bitumenized' wood pulp, it made effective electrical conduit and not so hot sewer pipe, although a 1.5 mile water line in Boston was in use for 50 years.
I have selected Orangeburg Pipe as the title for this blog as I expect this blog to serve as a conduit of useful information about goings-on here at the Orangeburg Library: new books, events, and whatever else the Obrarian might think interesting to our patrons.
Feedback is appreciated! Please feel free to comment, post good reads, or recommend links - all under the rubric of Library 2.0 - patron-centered interactive contemporary library services.
I have selected Orangeburg Pipe as the title for this blog as I expect this blog to serve as a conduit of useful information about goings-on here at the Orangeburg Library: new books, events, and whatever else the Obrarian might think interesting to our patrons.
Feedback is appreciated! Please feel free to comment, post good reads, or recommend links - all under the rubric of Library 2.0 - patron-centered interactive contemporary library services.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
