McHuston Booksellers

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Lord ha’ mercy.

July 16, 2012 /

I thought about my high school days the other evening, catching an episode of Two and a Half Men. Young Jake was pouting in his room, guitar in hand, shaking the house with an overly-amplified version of Smoke on the Water.

It occurred to me what an enduring song that has been.

Maybe it isn’t played all that often on the radio anymore. It might be more of a cultural reference now, I don’t know. It seems to me that the song – along with several others – pretty well defined an era of rock music.

Hearing Jake thump out the three or four notes, bum-bump-bummmm, bump-bum-ba-bummmm… made me think about way back when. Those things tend to make me feel older, since I realize that younger people probably don’t care one whit about the song or that time.

Today’s news made me feel even older (with all due respect to my youngish octogenarian friends and customers).

Jon Lord, the keyboard player for Deep Purple and a co-writer of the song, has died at age 71. Perhaps because I was high school age when the song was released, I have retained a mental image of the band members as young men. Maybe I thought they had found the Fountain of Youth.

They didn’t.

In fact, Jon Lord was quite a bit older at that time when I assumed he was near my own age.

He never slowed down, even after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer some years back. When Deep Purple disbanded, he played with 80’s rockers Whitesnake. Deep Purple reunited later, but in between Lord kept busy. He even had a classical work that was performed at Royal Albert Hall in London.

I’m sure there will be plenty of hits on YouTube this evening, bringing up videos of concert performances.

Jon Lord – a big part of the music scene of that time – will live forever in that venue.

They’re everywhere!

July 16, 2012 /

They are all around you. Possibly in the room with you right now.

Writers.

The passion for putting words on paper (as if we all do that still…) is either a blessing or a curse. Sitting in front of a word processor, typewriter (you know who you are!), or notebook with pen in hand, the practice of piecing together sentences and paragraphs to make something pleasing to read is a solitary endeavor.

Even if the work is done in collaboration with others, the actual writing is generally done independently. One person. One word at a time.

Knowing a little of the process, it makes me cringe to see scathing reviews of published works. There isn’t a book in print that doesn’t represent hours and hours of the author’s dedication and hard work. To have the end product of that labor dismissed by a heartless critic pains me, and in the several reviews I’ve done over the years, I try to keep a positive tone.

I also like to do my part to give writers a little recognition for their efforts, keeping an area to display the books of local and area authors, a little promotion and the opportunity to have someone buy and read the book.

Not everyone is a New York Times bestselling author, but there are writers in the Tulsa metro area that have had books optioned by filmmakers and movies made of their works. Probably the best known are those of Susan Eloise Hinton, more familiarly known as S. E. Hinton – the author of The Outsiders, Rumblefish, That was Then, This is Now – and others. The Outsiders was not only set in 1960’s Oklahoma, but brought Hollywood movie directors and stars to the state for the filming.

Jay Cronley’s humorous novels have been adapted into movies that starred A-list actors like Chevy Chase and Bill Murray.

There are other examples, such as the bestselling House of Night series by PC Cast and her daughter Kristen Cast, reportedly in the works as a major film project.

Then there are those works of fiction and non-fiction that represent a similar amount of work and dedication which have not caught the attention of Hollywood. Famous or not, they are deserving of attention, like the beautiful photography included in William Collins’ work – The Rucksack Accessories – currently among the feature titles at McHuston Booksellers.

There is a space here for your work, too! We’re proud to support local authors!

1st Editions after the 4th.

July 9, 2012 / / 0 Comments

After a brief test-run, it is time for some fine tuning. There have been no big announcements to date regarding the bistro end of the new shop. That’s because much of the time up to now has involved getting the books and the store’s interior in order.

Even that is still an ongoing process.

There are more items in boxes in the office awaiting rediscovery. I did find my first edition copy of To Kill a Mockingbird and the three-volume Universal Songster (Jones, London 1832) by George Cruikshank, who illustrated Dickens’ Oliver Twist and two other volumes. It was a pleasure to hold those books once again.

Meanwhile, I’m still fielding questions about the food service.

The trial run revealed a few areas requiring attention, and there is still the matter of suppliers: Specifically – trying to get their attention.

In my previous life as a restaurateur, I contacted Coca Cola about switching to their products and they were quick to bring out a machine that would dispense soft drinks. All we had to do is buy the product. Of course, Paddy’s Irish Restaurant seated 150 people (we had many more than that inside on St. Patrick’s Day, but that’s another story…), and the current layout for the bookstore bistro will accommodate about a tenth of that number.

The food distribution company salesperson hasn’t been seen round these parts since April, so it has been Plan B in the meantime.

There is also that issue of publicizing the food service. It’s in the works now, part of the planned entry-level marketing that will accompany the inaugural run, once we’re beyond the trials.

A number of bookstore guests have already expressed their impatience over the delay – a feeling I share completely. I can only point out that several of the Main Street neighbor restaurants were months in opening, even after posting their outdoor signage. The McHuston awning has only had lettering for just over a week now.

My sixth grade science teacher was fond of repeating the adage “Patience is a Virtue.” I’m not going for sainthood or anything.

It’s only in hopes of avoiding the snags that sometimes come with hurrying.

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