Rare, Collectible, & Otherwise

Tag: Coweta (Page 105 of 108)

Here comes the sun…

Maybe no one noticed.

The headline on Tulsa World writer Jason Ashley Wright’s column this morning noted the particularly rainy day we experienced here in Broken Arrow, while many areas to the east suffered through severe weather. The photo (if you look close enough) says “Tulsa World file.”

Wright was taking a little tour of the Rose District, which amounted to popping in a few stores in the block south of the book shop. As many folks do, he started at the Main Street Tavern.

The bookstore is in the photo that accompanies the story, although from across the street where the photographer snapped the shot, the lettering is a little hard to read on the awning. That’s okay. Any publicity is fine with me, even if it doesn’t include the store name, a mention, or a recognizable store front.

What I really like is the way the rain falls invisibly in Broken Arrow.

No splashy streets. No gusty winds. No dripping umbrellas and store awnings. Brilliant sunshine all round.

That’s the way I feel about the relocation of the store to the Rose District of downtown Broken Arrow.

It’s all sunshine, on a rainy day.

Sales pitching.

Talk about some bookselling irony: Goliath helping out little Davy (or Larry, in actuality).

Days have been spent repairing the damage from the Java Incident (deleting Java from the computers on the network at the urgent advice of Homeland Security, just days before Oracle issued a security patch to fix the problem). The system isn’t fully restored yet, but I am slightly encouraged, enough that I could take a break from wearing the repairman hat.

During that lull in the frustrating action, I was finally able to reconnect to the internet. Ha! Naturally, I checked email, and as a result, got a little smile-provider. The book behemoth Amazon had sent me a message (I don’t recall ever getting a random sales pitch before). It wasn’t so much the idea of Amazon doing direct mail that made me grin, it was the content.

You can click on the image to see why I smiled.

Along with other companies like Google, who are archiving all of my internet interests and activities, Amazon perceived that I like History, and decided to recommend some book titles. It pleased me to note that two of the three top books listed as being of possible interest to me, were my own titles.

Maybe I’ll buy one.

The women and Jessie’s Girl.

Wow.

It’s something when just reading a headline can make your face turn hot from embarrassment. The article was on the Tulsa World website and reads:

Rick Springfield Sets Return Tulsa Trip

It could be that you’re in that group that has never heard of Rick Springfield. After all, it was about thirty years ago that he starred on the television soap opera General Hospital. In truth, he was a seasoned musician and fairly well known in his home country before he came to the US.

His song Jessie’s Girl hit #1 in 1981 at the same time he was playing the television role, and he found himself working TV scripts and touring concert arenas at the same time. I found myself in a concert arena in Tulsa sitting next to my wife, who was an avid General Hospital viewer and fan of Jessie’s Girl.

I had no idea what I was in for.

There had to have been plenty of other males there, but I sure felt like the only one. Maybe we were all shrinking back into seat cushion invisibility. On the other hand, the women all seemed to be leaping, shouting, and generally drawing attention to themselves. At least, that’s the way I remember it.

The song still gets played on occasion, but I haven’t heard it in some time. According to Jennifer Chancellor’s account in the World, the song enjoyed a revival in popularity when it was featured on Glee. I missed that one, too, but I’m happy for any 80’s-era rocker who can still sell tickets for casino performances and entertain crowds at age 63. Springfield played the River Spirit Event Center last year, probably boosted by the Glee promotion.

Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t think Rick Springfield’s concert was horrible, necessarily. It was a matter of being in the midst of so many vocal fans and feeling out of place. There is sort of concert karma, though.

I got out of taking my daughter to the Backstreet Boys concert when they made a Tulsa appearance. I’m pretty sure I’d have felt a lot more out of place there.

In the meantime, any of you new or veteran Rick Springfield fans might enjoy his recently published memoir – Late, Late at Night – which came out in paperback last year and is ready for some reading, late, late at night.

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