I’ve got two parts (the intro essay and Cover to Cover”) of a package in New York magazine this week on the curious resurgence of independent bookstores in NYC. Just a few years ago, it looked like curtains for these places, but a new generation of entrepreneurs have jumped in and opened a number of new shops, every one of which I thought was fantastic. I actually visited every book store in NYC for this sucker, before the focus was shifted to strictly new stuff. I’m planning on writing an essay about the experience. I had a hell of a lot of fun, and gathered a lot of great, weird, and fascinating details. If I can’t get anyone to pay for it, it’ll likely wind up here, gratis.
Sorry, kids, life of the mercenary.
Let me also take this opportunity to promote the upcoming show by The Steamboat Disasters, my country band. Thursday, August 5, around 9pm, at Hank’s (glorious) Saloon, in Brooklyn. This shitty economy has made good, rowdy, somewhat boozy honky-tonk more relevant than it’s been in years. The Disasters are your source for the best of it.
