This new book collects interviews with Sun Ra, his friends, associates, and contemporaries, regarding his prolific output, mystique, and philosophy.  It includes essays by Wayne Kramer, Amiri Baraka, Sadiq Bey, and others. This book is in a series of titles that Sinclair has edited for Headpress publishers in London, England.

About the Author

EDITOR BIO: In 1969, the poet-provocateur, MC5 manager and White Panther John Sinclair found himself the victim of that decade s draconian American drug laws, and facing a twenty-year jail sentence for the possession of two joints. The counterculture Sinclair helped create came to his rescue, however, when John Lennon, Stevie Wonder, Phil Ochs and others performed at a successful benefit gig to petition for his release. Since that epochal moment, Sinclair has travelled the globe and performed with some of the world’s finest musicians. He interviewed Sun Ra in 1966.

Also available at this sigining will be a reprint facsimile of the “Poetry is Revolution” poster from 1967 by Leni Sinclair produced in a limited edition of 75 copies, and a reprint of Sinclair’s 1966 book Fire Music: A Record. Both editions have been printed by Book Beat.

‘Detroit Punk Fest’ at Book Beat Opens; Friday, July 30th   7-10 PM

A massive celebration of Punk Rock opens at Book Beat 7 -10 PM on Friday, July 30th. There will be author signings, readings, and a photo exhibition.  Author and punk rocker Tesco Vee and Dave Stimson, founders of Touch & Go, will sign copies of their zine collected into one massive volume, Touch and Go; The Complete Hardcore Punk Zine ‘79-’83. Tony Rettman, author of Why Be Something You’re Not: The History of Detroit Hardcore 1979-1985, will be here, as well.  Nicholas Rombes, author of  A Cultural Dictionary of Punk, will sign and comment on vintage 7″ records he will be spinning.  Local contributors Ryan Cooper and Nicole Lucas to the book How Punk Saved My Ass will also read and be present.

SUCH A DEAL: And Tesco Vee has killer Touch and Go t-shirts for sale for $5 if you purchase the Touch and Go Fanzine book!!!

Photographers S. Kay Young, Katie Hait, Nicole Lucas, Sue Rysnski and Leni Sinclair will also be represented in a Punk Rock photo gallery spanning four decades, yet concentrated in the early Detroit years 73-77. The Book Beat is located at 26010 Greenfield, Oak Park, MI – please call 248-968-1190 for more information.

Local Detroit Punk rocker’s TYVEK will perform a  short set at Book Beat, outdoors between 9-10 PM.

Detroit Free Press journalist Rachel May breaks it all down in Metromix: ROCKIN’ IN THE D.

‘Damn THAT was Fun’, part 2: Photography of Detroit Punk

An exhibition in the Book Beat gallery will explore some happenings from the Detroit Punk scene from the 70s until now.  The show features classic vintage images by S. Kay Young, Katy Hait, Joe Sposita, Leni Sinclair, Nicole Lucas and Sue Rynski.

Opening July 30th, yo coincide with ‘Punk Fest’ the exhibition will continue through  September 7th, 2010. Images in the show include iconic shots of Iggy Pop, The Ramrods, Johnny Thunders, The Dead Boys, New York Dolls, MC5, Lester Bangs, Destroy All Monsters, The 27, Tribe 8, Coldcock, Lance Loud, the Mumps, the Sillies and many more. The exhibition is an expansion of ‘Damn it Was Fun’ – shown in 2004 at the Majestic Cafe in Detroit. The exhibit displays the raw punk flavor of  Midwest punk, undiluted by the UK. This exhibit is curated by Cary Loren.

Tesco Vee and the TOUCH AND GO: The Complete Hardcore Punk Zine ‘79–’83 @ Book Beat July 30, 7:00 pm

Bazillion Points Press is releasing Touch and Go: the Complete Hardcore Punk Zine ‘79-’83, and original zine creators and label founder Tesco Vee and Dave Stimson will be here to talk, introduce the book and sign copies.  On Saturday Tesco Vee will be playing a show with a line-up of other bands including Negative Approach, original members of Necros, and more at St. Andrews Hall.

‘A Cultural Dictionary of Punk’ by Nicholas Rombes

Here in one volume is an eclectic raw collection of articles on some of the seminal groups, figures and cultural landmarks that have come to dominate the punk rock genre. The book is written by Nicholas Rombes who is a cultural critic and educator now living in Ann Arbor.Rombes comes up with some fascinating and often overlooked links to the punk phenomenon. His blog THE CULTURAL DICTIONARY OF PUNK explores punk in further multi-media detail. Nicholas Rombes will be available for signing books and will be bringing a selection of  his rare vintage punk singles to play at the event.

Fact 1. It is made up of discrete entries, scores of them, ranging from “Destroy All Monsters” to “Neat, Neat, Neat” to “Sixties, punk as a rejection of” to “Mo-Dettes” to “Brando, Marlon” to “The Dils.” Some entries are as short as 26 words, and others are as long as 18,533 words.

Fact 2. Several entries take the form of short stories. Some (“Patti Smith”) are sort of creepy love stories. Some (“Frankie Teardrop”) are weird stories of terror and wonder. And at least one features the demented, wild-haired ex-professor Ephraim P. Noble.

Fact 3. Many entries are directly about punk, and many are about the strange correspondences between punk and other forms and forces, such as movies, politicians, TV shows, philosophers, novelists, poets, inventors.

“Rombes launches arguments and counterarguments . . . that make the selections of his ‘dictionary’ as provocative as Jon Savage in England’s Dreaming . . . A challenging lexicography.” — The Record Collector

Why Be Something You’re Not: The History of Detroit Hardcore 1979-1985 by Tony Rettman…

Tony Rettman will be there at 7 PM sharp to sign copies of his heavy Detroit hardcore history — already generating large acclaim:

...Tony talks first person to the people who you idolize: this from Steve Miller of The Fix on the D.C. scene and straight edge: “all those kids in those hardcore bands were throwing out their Aerosmith and AC/DC records. It all seemed fishy to me.” This, Barry Hensler, Ian Mackaye, Dave Stimpson, Tesco Vee, and John Brannon chatting like they’re at a sleepover. Tony’s gift as a writer is not what he knows, which borders on the obsessive, but his ear for the language and music he loves, and his gift for capturing rhetorical pratfalls. This is his head and his heart. Now will someone please pay him to write about Abba and/or Roger Nichols? –Elisa Ambrogio, Arthur Magazine

A previously under documented small and insular scene’s story is now legend for good reason; the music. The Necros, The Meatmen, Negative Approach… “WBSTYN” unfurls in insightful and often hilarious dialog from it’s participants. Consider this the mid-west ‘Please Kill Me’. –Dave Markey, Director: ‘1991 – The Year Punk Broke’

Punk Rock Saved My Ass

“Punk is the only music genre I know that consistently opens its mouth about taboo social and economic subjects in our society. Nothing is more honest or relevant to me than that.” – Mic Schenk

“Everything that makes my life better is an offshoot or direct result of my having gotten into punk music.” - Chestnut

“That was one of my lessons; you don’t have to fly your colors to be a punk or have a punk attitude.” – Dick Wizmore

Here are the true stories from people whose lives were transformed and empowered by the frenetic, questioning, creative energy of punk rock; stories and poems written by punks from the USA and Europe, who share their unique vision on what it means to be punk. Written by musicians, teachers, artists, librarians, nurses, bakers, parents, and social workers, the stories are funny, sometimes tragic, and always surprising. Punk Rock Saved My Ass explores the strength of the punk movement to positively impact an individual’s life by providing a community to those who feel lost, by rousing a person to “do it herself,” and by inspiring all to push the boundaries of their own creativity. You may never listen to a punk rock album again.

Local Detroit contributing author Ryan Cooper will read an excerpt of his from the book. Cooper also produces a PUNK ROCK BLOG for about.com.  Photographer Nicole Lucas from Ann Arbor, MI, also contributed to the book and will have her images on display in the Book Beat gallery.

August Reading Group Selection

The Book Beat Reading Group will meet Wednesday, August 25th at 7pm at the Goldfish Teahouse in Royal Oak to discuss Angela Carter’s “Wise Children”.  Meetings are free and open to the public, reading selections are discounted 15% at Book Beat.

Wise Children (1991) was the last novel written by Angela Carter. The novel follows the fortunes of twin chorus girls, Dora and Nora Chance, and their bizarre theatrical family. It explores the subversive nature of fatherhood, the denying of which leads Nora and Dora to frivolous “illegitimate” lechery. The novel plays on Carter’s admiration of Shakespeare and her love of fairy tales and the surreal, incorporating a large amount of magical realism and elements of the carnivalesque that probes and twists our expectations of reality and society.

Book Beat will be Closed for the Fourth of July

Book Beat will be closed on Sunday, July 4 for Independence Day. We will re-open on Monday, July 5 at 10 am. Thank you and have a great holiday weekend!

Hunger Games available in Paperback July 6!

One of our favorite young adult titles of recent memory is now available in paperback.  “Hunger Games” takes place in a not-too-distant future, the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch.

A thrilling series that has delighted adults and kids alike, book two “Catching Fire” is available in hardcover, while the final book in the series “Mockingjay” is set for a August 24th release. Sign up to pre-order your copy of what is sure to be an explosive finale to this fantastic series.

Wimpy Kid Ice Cream Truck Visits Book Beat!!!

Join us as the Diary of  Wimpy Kid Summer Reading Ice Cream Truck visits us here at Book Beat on Wednesday August 25, 2010. Starting at 4:00 pm come get a free purple popsicle to celebrate the upcoming publication of Diary of a Wimpy Book 5, which is on sale Tuesday November 9, 2010. Other free goodies will be handed out. PLEASE NOTE: JEFF KINNEY WILL NOT BE MAKING AN APPEARANCE OR SIGNING BOOKS AT THIS EVENT.

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John Sinclair Presents Sun Ra Book; Thursday, August 5th

Poet and blues scholar John Sinclair will be at The Book Beat on Thursday, August 5 from 7-8:30 pm to sign and discuss his newest book Sun Ra- Interviews and Essays.

This new book collects interviews with Sun Ra, his friends, associates, and contemporaries, regarding his prolific output, mystique, and philosophy. It includes essays by Wayne Kramer, Amiri Baraka, Sadiq Bey, and others. This book is in a series of titles that Sinclair has edited for Headpress publishers in London, England.

Composer, bandleader, pianist and space philosopher, Sun Ra was a unique individual and one of the most colorful and enduring of musical legacies, transcending time, place and culture. From the mid 1950s until his death in 1993, Sun Ra led The Arkestra , a fluid collective that lived and played together under the despotic tutelage of their leader, who claimed to hail from Saturn. Their music was jazz, but avant garde compositions in which players were instructed to adhere to a space key improvising without regard for conventional tonal centers was symptomatic of an altogether different direction in sound: electronic music, space music and free improvisation. But Sun Ra s legendary status was earned as much for his eccentricities as for his unique artistic vision. He developed and propagated a mystifying sci-fi mythology which he weaved into both the music and Dadaist performances of The Arkestra (performances which inspired artists as diverse as George Clinton and MC5). This book collects together for the first time interviews with Sun Ra, the people that knew him, and his contemporaries, alongside illuminating essays and conversational pieces regarding his prolific musical output, mystique, philosophy, fans, and much more.

About the Author

EDITOR BIO: In 1969, the poet-provocateur, MC5 manager and White Panther John Sinclair found himself the victim of that decade s draconian American drug laws, and facing a twenty-year jail sentence for the possession of two joints. The counterculture Sinclair helped create came to his rescue, however, when John Lennon, Stevie Wonder, Phil Ochs and others performed at a successful benefit gig to petition for his release. Since that epochal moment, Sinclair has travelled the globe and performed with some of the world’s finest musicians. He interviewed Sun Ra in 1966.

Also available at this sigining will be a reprint facsimile of the “Poetry is Revolution” poster from 1967 by Leni Sinclair produced in a limited edition of 75 copies, and a reprint of Sinclair’s 1966 book Fire Music: A Record. Both editions have been printed by Book Beat.

Mei-Ling Hopgood is a Chinese-American journalist and author. Her first book “Lucky-Girl: A Memoir” published by Algonquin books in 2009 will be released into paperback this month. “Lucky Girl” is the story of Mei-Ling’s childhood and adopted family of Taylor, Michigan, the search and reunion with her birth parents in China and her quest for a Chinese American identity. Mei-Ling  lives in Buenos Aires with her husband Monte Reel and their daughter.

Monte Reel is a South American correspondent for the Washington Post. He will be reading and talking about his first book “The Last of the Tribe,” a heart-pounding modern-day adventure set in one of the world’s last truly wild places. The Last of the Tribe is a riveting, brilliantly told tale of encountering the unknown and the unfathomable, and the value of preserving it.

“Lucky Girl is a refreshingly upbeat take on dealing with the pressures and expectations of family, while remaining true to oneself. Simple, to the point and uncluttered of the everyday minutiae, Mei-Ling Hopgood nails the concept of becoming one’s own.” — Metro Times

“Hopgood is a likable narrator whose life embodies a fascinating Sliding Doors–type what-if scenario. . . She deftly and movingly contrasts her own childhood with doting parents in a Michigan suburb to the very different lives of her sisters.”  Winner of Elle Magazine’s Reader’s Prize  (Jill Jacobs, Elle reader’s jury)

About “The Last of the Tribe”:

Throughout the centuries, the Amazon has yielded many of its secrets, but it still holds a few great mysteries. In 1996 experts got their first glimpse of one: a lone Indian, a tribe of one, hidden in the forests of southwestern Brazil. Previously uncontacted tribes are extremely rare, but a one-man tribe was unprecedented. And like all of the isolated tribes in the Amazonian frontier, he was in danger. Resentment of Indians can run high among settlers, and the consequences can be fatal. The discovery of the Indian prevented local ranchers from seizing his land, and led a small group of men who believed that he was the last of a murdered tribe to dedicate themselves to protecting him. These men worked for the government, overseeing indigenous interests in an odd job that was part Indiana Jones, part social worker, and were among the most experienced adventurers in the Amazon. They were a motley crew that included a rebel who spent more than a decade living with a tribe, a young man who left home to work in the forest at age fourteen, and an old-school sertanista with a collection of tall tales amassed over five decades of jungle exploration.

“Whizzing arrows, devious plots, heartbreak and mystery — it’s amazing that amidst all this intrigue and adventure, Monte Reel’s main purpose in this remarkable tale is to chart the science behind an event we may never witness again: the discovery of a last survivor of a lost tribe. Reel masterfully describes the peril and moral dilemmas that unfold when a team devoted to protecting indigenous tribes stumbles upon a tribesman who, armed with five-foot arrows and near-invisibility, would rather protect himself. You won’t find anthropology this enthralling without a bullwhip and a fedora.” -Christopher McDougall, New York Times bestselling author of Born to Run

“The Last of the Tribe is ‘Avatar’ for grown-ups, a tribe-in-peril-story with real people, complicated motives, and every bit of subtlety and nuance left out of James Cameron’s cliched script. Reel’s tale is expertly told: perfectly timed, thoroughly researched and descriptively written. Back stories, personal histories, character development and political context are deftly woven into the narrative, and each departure from the quest feels appropriate at the time.” – The San Francisco Chronicle

The Book Beat reading group will be meeting Wednesday, June 30th at 7 PM at the Goldfish Teahouse in Royal Oak. Meetings are free and open to the public, reading selections are discounted 15% at Book Beat

“Soseki is the representative modern Japanese novelist, a figure of truly national stature.”
-Haruki Murakami

June’s Book Group Selection is “Kokoro” by Natsume Soseki.  Called by many the ‘father of modern Japanese literature,’ “Kokoro” was the final novel he completed before his death in 1916.  The work deals with the transition to the modern era, by exploring the friendship between a young man and an older man he calls “Sensei” (Or teacher).

George Vutetakis, author of Vegetarian Traditions and founder of the legendary Royal Oak, Michigan natural food cafe will be talking about his cooking experience, and signing copies of his new book at Book Beat on Sunday, June 13th from 2-3 PM. Mr. Vutetakis will be in the area to promote his new cookbook , a lavish and full color hardbound edition, that will be inspiration to beginning and advanced cooks interested in healthy eating and sustainable foods.

In Vegetarian Traditions: Favorite Recipes From My Years At The Legendary Inn Season Cafe Chef George Vutetakis unveils some of the wildly popular recipes from his trail-blazing years at the award winning Inn Season Cafe in Royal Oak, Michigan. These innovative vegan dishes, focusing on quality ingredients, freshness and seasonality, brought rave reviews and appealed to all palates.

Each recipe has a story, with tidbits of food lore from around the world. Entrees, soups, desserts and salads with exciting flavors, textures and presentation are in an easy to follow format with beautifully photographed color pictures. As the vegetarian and vegan life-styles become more and more popular, this cookbook could not be more relevant or current.

More than a cookbook, Vegetarian Traditions, is a journey of discovery. Meet the hard-working farmers who provided Chef George with the exquisite produce that went into his delectable and healthy dishes. Discover the benefits of using local, organic and sustainable ingredients while mastering the art of cooking like a chef.

We had a chance to talk briefly with author Patrick Rothfuss after his May 2nd book signing held at the Baldwin library.  About 70 of Patrick’s enthusiastic fans came out to hear him speak about The Name of the Wind and its upcoming sequel, The Wise Man’s Fear.

Patrick read a little from his amusing column “The College Survival Guide”, and talked about blogging, writing, teaching, his  family and connecting to the community of fantasy  authors. He also announced the publication of a dark satirical fantasy book, THE ADVENTURES OF THE PRINCESS & MR. WHIFFLE, a title we will have in stock soon.

Of contemporary fantasy writers, Rothfuss recommended three;  Brandon Sanderson,  UK author Joe Abercrombie, and a woman writer currently living and teaching in Chicago; Nnedi Okorafor. Patrick noted he especially liked Okorafor’s ZAHRAH, THE WINDSEEKER, winner of the 2008 Wole Soyinka Prize for literature in Africa.

When asked what world lit classics helped shape his vision, Patrick chose three;  Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, the play Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, and the Memoirs of Giacomo Casonova.

We look forward to another visit with Patrick Rothfuss, hopefully when the sequel is published around March 2011.

Patrick discusses the finer merits of each book jacket to the first edition. Signed copies of the trade paperback edition of The Name of the Wind, are available now at the Book Beat, please call or write soon to hold one.

This short, perfect novel seems to encapsulate all the world’s pain in a soap bubble. Its surface is as smooth as a fable, its setting and characters are unremarkable, its tone is blithe, and its effect is shattering.  — Deborah Eisenberg

Read the complete review at the source: New York Review of Books

The Book Beat reading group meets the last Wednesday of every month. At our next meeting we will be discussing Skylark by Dezso Kosztolanyi as the Book Beat Reading Group selection for May. The meeting will be held on May 26th at 7 pm at the Goldfish Teahouse, 117 W. Fourth Street in Royal Oak. Meetings are free and open to the public. Please call 248-968-1190 for more information. Book club books are discounted 15% at Book Beat, online orders will also receive the 15% discount for this title.

Richard Aczel’s fine version of Skylark catches its author’s irony and sharp, atmospheric nuance. This hidden masterpiece is now being presented to a wide audience, an event to be celebrated.
— The Irish Times

…a superb, deeply poignant short novel…anyone can enjoy Skylark as literature in English, even it they have no special knowledge of, or interest in, Hungary…because Kosztolányi’s writing is good enough to transcend [any] cultural differences…
— Timothy Garton Ash, The Independent (London)

Dezso Kosztolányi (1885-1936) was born in Subotica, a provincial Austro-Hungarian city (located in present-day Serbia) that would serve as the model for the fictional town in which he later set several novels, including Skylark. His father was the headmaster of the local gymnasium, which he attended until he was expelled for insubordination. Kosztolányi spent three years studying Hungarian and German at the University of Budapest, but quit in 1906 to go into journalism. In 1908 he was among the first contributors to the legendary literary journal Nyugat; in 1910, the publication of his second collection of poems, The Complaints of a Poor Little Child, caused a literary sensation. Kosztolányi turned from poetry to fiction in the 1920s, when he wrote the novels Nero, the Bloody Poet (to which Thomas Mann contributed a preface); Skylark; and Anna Edès. An influential critic and, in 1931, the first president of the Hungarian PEN Club, Kosztolányi was also celebrated as the translator of such varied writers as Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, Oscar Wilde, Verlaine, Baudelaire, Goethe, and Rilke, as well as for his anthology of Chinese and Japanese poetry. He was married to the actress Ilona Harmos and had one son.

Source: New York Review of Books (publisher site)

I dream of colored inks. Of every kind.

The yellow is the finest. Reams and reams
of letters could I write in yellow ink
to her, the little schoolgirl of my dreams.
I’d scrawl something that looks like Japanese,
then try a bird, most intricately scrolled.
And I want other colours, many more,
like bronze and silver, emerald and gold,
and then I want a hundred more, a thousand,
or rather, I will have a million:
dumb-charcoal, funny-lilac, drunken-ruby,
enamoured, chaste or brash vermilion.
I ought to have some mournful violet,
a palish blue, a brick-red-like maroon,
like shadows seeping through a stained glass window
against a black vault, in August, at noon.
In reds I want a blazing, burning one,
and blood-red, like the blood-stained setting sun
and then I’d go on writing: with a blue
to my young sister, mother will get gold,
I’d write a prayer in gold ink to my mother,
a golden dawn with golden words re-told.
I’d go on writing, in an ancient tower.
My colour set, so fine and exquisite,
would make me happy, oh my God, so happy.

I want to colour in my life with it.

Kosztolányi poem from Laments of a Poor Little Child Source: European Cultural Review

Saturday May 22nd: American Girls Tea Party

Bring your favorite doll or stuffed or animal at an author tea party to meet Mary Casanova, an award-winning children’s author of novels and picture books.  She has written books for the American Girls series for characters Chrissa, Jess and Cecile.

The event is on Saturday, May 22, 2:00 – 5:00 pm at the Detroit Public Library Main Branch.  5201 Woodward Ave, Detroit Mi 48202.  Limited seating is available so an RSVP is required, For more information or to RSVP call 313-481-1409. Books she has written besides the American Girl series will also be available for purchase.

New York Times Best-Selling Author Patrick Rothfuss will be at the Baldwin Public Library, (300 West Merrill Street, Birmingham) on Sunday, May 2, 2010 at 2:00 pm.

His debut fantasy novel, The Name of the Wind has received high praise in the world of fantasy fiction and his fans are eagerly waiting for his next title to be released.  Rothfuss will be there for a reading, signing and Q and A session.   Come out to meet this exciting new fantasy writer.   Books will be available for purchase at the event from Book Beat.

“The Name of the Wind marks the debut of a writer we would all do well to watch. Patrick Rothfuss has real talent, and his tale of Kvothe is deep and intricate and wondrous.”