McHuston Booksellers

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Tag: book store (Page 8 of 104)

He was among the giants.

June 4, 2016 /

He was arguably the most famous person I’d ever stood across the table from. To say that I met Muhammad Ali would imply that it was an occasion that he might have remembered, and that certainly wasn’t the case. There were very few folks in the room, but it was a larger gathering than some sports press conferences.

Some of us just wanted the chance to be in the same room with The Greatest.

One of the river casinos was regularly staging boxing matches and Mohammed Ali had been brought in to help publicize the event. It was long after his career had ended and he was already suffering the effects of Parkinson’s.

Still.

He was Muhammad Ali.

Even on that day, years after his career’s end, he was a formidable presence in the room – I could only imagine what it would have been like to have been in the same circumstances in his prime. I recall back then that the man was acknowledged to be the most recognizable man on planet Earth, known to inhabitants on every continent.

Many of you won’t have attended press conferences, but I can attest to the fact that it is rare that anyone lingers. Television crews have to pack up gear before they go. Radio folks pick up gear and go. Newspaper reporters just go.

Not at this one. We all had just one more question, or some other reason to stand up and head up to the table where Ali was seated.

He was Muhammad Ali.

Whether you agreed with him or disagreed, he was one of those that you’d not miss an opportunity to meet. The casino, of course, benefited greatly from the appearance. Every metro media outlet carried the story.

That event was long enough ago that I’m sure there are plenty of folks who don’t know much about Muhammad Ali, and even less about Sonny Liston and George Foreman. Or Howard Cosell, the brash broadcaster who could hold his own – at least verbally – with the Louisville Lip. There is no way to explain what a phenomenon Ali was.

You hadda be there.

Some might debate whether he was the top boxer of all time, but there’s no mistaking that – in his day – he was… The Greatest.

RIP Champ.

An Itty-bitty Irish Ditty…

June 2, 2016 /

Luke Skywalker marching with the Irish Regiment? Crazy – but true.

Almost.

I’ve wondered more than once about things I’ve learned from Google searches. Pretty useless stuff most of the time, but still… all those questions that would never have been answered back in the day. Now I’m guessing there are very few original questions left. No matter what I type in, Google pops up with the rest of the sentence, presumably based on some other person’s online query.

Today it was an Irish song that set me to wonder. It’s a Mick Moloney song easily sung along with after hearing it a few times. Some sort of a story there, but I never paid much attention. This afternoon, a part of the lyric caught my attention in between the chorus line I was belting out – In the Regular Army O! (and if you’ve not heard me loudly singing Irish, you don’t visit near enough…)

Irish songwriters apparently have an affection for the mild-mannered O… sticking it at the end of any line to make the rhythm and meter work.

I figured the song had to do with the Irish Troubles, but that was dispelled with a closer listen to the very first verse.

Three years ago, this very day,
I went to Govner’s Isle
For to stand against the cannon
In true military style,
Thirteen American dollars
Each month we’d surely get,
To carry a gun and a bayonet
With regimental step.

harrigan2
So – I Googled it.

It turns out the song is no traditional Irish pub ditty, although it’s been around long enough to qualify. It has more to do with all the Irish immigrants who stepped off the boat and into the Union Army during the Civil War.

Ned Harrigan and Tony Hart were Irish-American equivalent of Burt Bacharach and Hal David back in the l800s. The Regular Army O was part of a Broadway musical, and as Wikipedia describes Mr. Harrigan: His career began in minstrelsy and variety but progressed to the production of multi-act plays full of singing, dancing and physical comedy, making Harrigan one of the founding fathers of modern American musical theatre.

Although Mr. Hart died at a younger age, Ned Harrigan continued in theater for many years and the New York Times devoted a page to the “good old days” of Broadway at his death in 1911.

And how does Luke Skywalker fit it with the Irish Regiment?

In 1985, a musical celebrating the partnership, Harrigan ‘N Hart, opened on Broadway, based on the book The Merry Partners by Ely Jacques Kahn. Harry Groener portrayed Harrigan and Mark Hamill (Luke of Star Wars fame) played Hart. The New York Times liked the memories of the songwriting team better than the show, which was described as dull and “aimless.” Audiences apparently agreed and the show closed after four performances.

Just as well, I imagine. Hard to think of Luke Skywalker declaring in a thick Irish brogue “I am a Jedi, like my father before me,” and of course adding, “so ye best step back or I’ll be poking ye with me wee light saber.”

As for the Irish Bistro, we’ll be serving from the Regular Menu O tomorrow, so come visit!

You say tomato. I say toe-mah-to. Aw, heck. I do not.

April 29, 2016 /

Maybe they thought I was a basket-case. The baskets of fruits and vegetables in front of the bookstore just didn’t happen, but – with a couple of exceptions – the artist’s rendering of the Rose District is very similar to the finished project.

The most obvious difference between the brainstorming phase of Broken Arrow’s Main Street makeover and the final product is that center median in the image (click it for a better view). Maybe a median and trees would eliminate those U-turns for opposite direction parking, but I have my doubts. I am pretty sure the trees in the drawing would quickly outgrow those narrow planters.

Then there is that fruit and vegetable stand in front of our bookshop, and maybe that’s the artist’s depiction of me in the picture, leaning over and lining up the tomatoes. I used to have some high-water pants like those.

roseDistrictRendering

The image is courtesy of John Ferguson, whose story in the Broken Arrow Ledger looks back on the groundwork and research that went into planning the streetscape makeover.

Main Street Tavern is easily recognizable in the image as the red brick once-upon-a-time bank building – center right – with the multicolor sidewalk umbrellas. The brown awning just below the New Orleans-style iron-railed balcony these days has the logo for Glamour Gowns. Our own awning – is missing.

We were on Main Street when the concept was introduced, just a ways down the road back then. The books and shelves were all moved into the current location just in time for all the orange construction barrels and protective fencing. Well, we survived it.

And haven’t regretted making the move.

I have often shared the observation included in the news story – that Main Street was largely deserted in the early evening hours, and certainly was by dark. When I closed up the shop and drove through the old downtown, it was rare to see a single parked car.

These days, it is just as rare to find a parking space.

Some folks complain about that, and I don’t know quite how to respond. Parked cars are a sign of business and customers. Commerce and such. Tax dollars and all that. My thinking is that – if you pull into a restaurant parking lot at lunchtime and there aren’t any other cars – maybe you should look somewhere else for eats. The good places are busy, because people want to be there.

I’m happy that people want to be in the Rose District. They’ve already announced plans to work the side streets for more parking. And most of us think nothing of parking on the north-forty at Walmart and walking to the door. It’s a longer walk from one end of Woodland Mall to the other, than it is from any parking space near the Rose District businesses.

Come on down. You’ll find plenty of things to do. Paint a picture. Smoke a cigar. Try on a formal gown. Sample chocolate. Have dinner. Shop for a unique gift. Or even buy a rose. The Rose District has you covered.

Except – no apples or tomatoes on the sidewalk in front of the bookstore.

The tomatoes are on your sandwich, at lunchtime. Come visit!

McHuston

Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main St. Broken Arrow OK!

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