McHuston Booksellers

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Dropping Paula Dean? What? Drop a book?

June 28, 2013 /

The question is: Are there retailers in the US that do not have an exclusive line of Paula Deen products?

Answer?

McHuston Booksellers.

Apparently, I’m the only store without something with her name attached. Presumably, I could have a book or two in stock with her name on it. I don’t though.

By gosh, if I had one I swear I’d snatch it off the shelf and run it straight to the dustbin.

I’m kidding, but not due to matters of principal. And – although I’m surprised at the extent of her business ties and my naiveté about the extent of her fame – I am a little sympathetic about her current situation. I’ve never been one to relish in someone’s demise, particularly business people. (I’d say she qualifies even if business wasn’t her original claim to fame.)

Okay. I sort-of enjoyed the demise of Coach Hayes of Ohio State fame, who was fired as Coach/Icon for punching out a collegiate student-athlete who let him down in some fashion. And there was Bobby Knight. I admit feeling bad for President Richard Nixon, the guy who couldn’t just say, “Woopsie! I guess I messed up there. Forgive me?” I think I could have. And he was the president that was going to have me slogging around in the rice paddies of Vietnam.

Someone I cared a lot about once remarked – at watching the University of Arkansas athletic director arriving in a car – “Here he is. Oh. I didn’t know Frank [Broyles] had a driver.” The “driver” was Coach Nolan Richardson. She assumed a black man behind the wheel had to be a hired chauffeur. Driving Mr Daisy. These days, most of us would not make that assumption. (I could still be naïve.) The person observing the arrival of Mr Broyles that day was the product of a different era.

Not a bad person.

I’m not defending Paula Deen here. My father set me to rights at an early age but Ms Deen did not share a father with me. I did not grow up in the deep South, as she did and has reminded us of – more than once. I think that’s the trouble.

Like Tricky Dicky, the president who had to abdicate the throne because he couldn’t say “I’m sorry for my mistakes,” Paula Deen persists in defending her style of upbringing as an excuse for her racist-sounding commentary. “I’m not a crook,” said Nixon. “I is what I is,” says Deen.

Personally, I used to poop my pants, but I learned to better myself.

So, it has to be “Sorry, Paula. You’re books are forever banned from the shelves of–”

Oh, who am I kidding? I’m selling pages and information. Books. Recipes. Paula Deen didn’t know me from Adam when she fell from grace and she doesn’t know me now. I’ve never prepared food based on her recipes.

But I won’t deny someone else that chance and – me, a sale.

It isn’t personal or principal here. Just business. (I’m not a serial killer either, but sell murder mysteries.) The chef is losing sponsors for her past comments, but not so much for her past comments as for her inability to say today: “Woopsie! I guess I messed up there. Forgive me?”

It would have worked for a disgraced US president way back then and for a Deep South deep-fryer in this day and age.

Pride goeth, they say, before a fall. Wow. What a fall. Fail, as they say these days. But don’t start remembering later those loose words said these days, or don’t speak today those words that may be later recalled.

Cookbooks? Got ‘em. Political spin-doctoring? Not so much. But, you aren’t looking for those, anyway. Come visit!

McHuston

Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 S. Main Street, Broken Arrow OK!

Big Shoes from Big Radio Days: Ken Greenwood

June 21, 2013 /

I was sorry to learn of the death of Ken Greenwood. Such a veteran broadcaster was he, that I have some vintage media books that have him listed. Not unusual to have movers and shakers in books. But those vintage books are – really vintage. Mr. Ken was the real deal for a long time.

He was like the driver of the bus and we all went where he steered us. Not just young wanna-be deejays like me. There were plenty of seasoned folks who wanted to go on the road that Ken Greenwood envisioned. He had that ability. Passion, too. Thousands of people enjoyed his efforts that probably would never recognize his name.

The Great Raft Race, for example.

Sure, there hasn’t been one in a while. But that event used to be a regular river extravaganza that brought out the television cameras, the radio folk (naturally – for that was the domain of Mr. Greenwood), the adventurous raft-riders, and the curious public. It was one of the largest river festivals (I’m guessing) on the Arkansas – that stretch of sand bisected by a sliver of water. Most days.

Mr G. dreamed it up and pulled it off. Wacky rafts bobbing their way (the experienced or fortunate, anyway) down from a Sand Springs launching point. Some of you surely must remember the thing. In its day, it was big. Really big.

I mention the race, only because it may be the event for which Ken Greenwood might be most recognized, even if his association isn’t readily known. He was a joiner, a starter, a thinker, and a do-er.

Somewhere, I read that his remembrance included a job description with the word – mentor. Just a guess here. Since I never worked for him. Wasn’t family. Held no stock in any of his ventures. I must have been a mentor-ee. Ken Greenwood was a man that I admired greatly and I gathered in his words like the British Guardian newspaper is collecting every audible expression of the NSA scandal-causing Edward Snowden.

Except – there was nothing about Ken Greenwood that was in the dark or skirting the edges. He was a man with ideas. He was a man with ideas who knew how to put them into action.

There was a spot on the lake that – when referenced by his inner circle – had to do with a cabin used during the duck hunting season. I heard mention of it several times, in that sort of reminiscing tone that implied good times, off the beaten path. It had a name, I’m guessing, but I always heard it called The Duckin’ Ranch. I could have heard wrong. I was pretty young, recently married, and thrilled to have gotten an invitation.

Mr. Greenwood didn’t know me from Adam, then – I don’t believe. I know he made a connection later. He called me early one morning when I was pulling the morning drive shift on KBEZ-FM. He gave his name and started to identify himself. It was the only time I would ever have interrupted him – but I did. I quickly said something that made it apparent he was obviously known to me and how flattered I was that he called. (Beyond that, that he was actually listening to the broadcast…)

Already, I’ve gone on too long here – but not near long enough to expound his many virtues. I would have thought KRMG might have made some mention, and perhaps they did and I missed it. It could be that – with ownership changes over the years – his association with them has been lost.

A loss, though, is a correct statement. He was a prince of a fellow that I knew only a little, but knew enough to realize the sort of man I had met.

Here is a link to the Tulsa World obit: Exec Ken Greenwood Dies.

De-sign is up!

June 19, 2013 /

Some of you will recognize this intersection. Some of you will notice the buildings on the right have changed dramatically. Some – particularly those of you from out of state who may have landed on this webpage from an internet search – won’t know the buildings at all. Downtown Broken Arrow is undergoing some changes currently.

There are renovations that have already been completed. Among them, the buildings at the northwest corner of Main and Commercial, including the one housing McHuston Booksellers. The image is from Google Earth, and shows the intersection as it appeared some years ago, before the makeovers were completed. The awning still says Francy Law Firm.

Change can be tough. A voice or two expressed disappointment over the demolition of the two structures down the block. Like everything else, some amount of upkeep is required to maintain viability, and no doubt the two old buildings were just too far gone to save. A bookstore visitor told me the other day that “they’re just tearing everything down.”

It just isn’t true. On either side of Commercial Street are buildings – the ones in the image – that are owned by the same person, a fellow who has done more than his share to help preserve the original BA Business District. You know him – some of you – but I won’t mention his name here, although I’d publicly sing his praises any day of the week.

He’s re-doing another building across the street, one that he had restored earlier. These new changes are to accommodate an incoming business, and the gossip (you didn’t hear it from me!) says it will be an upscale wine and cigar bar – the sort of thing you’d find in Chicago or Dallas. I like the idea of it being located in Broken Arrow’s Rose District.

As a fan of history and things historical, I appreciate efforts to maintain our heritage, and consider myself fortunate to have my little business in one of Mr. S’s buildings. No one works a major enterprise alone, but part of his legacy will be the west side of the intersection and the buildings he has saved – buildings in which you’ll find Main Street Tavern, Glamour Gowns, and McHuston Booksellers.

It’s my opinion that Main Street Tavern ranks right there with some of the upscale establishments I’ve visited in Dallas, San Francisco, and New York.

The same applies to Glamour Gowns, my next door neighbor. Her window displays and the quality of her merchandise rivals that of any major metropolitan retailer.

I’m not there with the iconic bookstores of the nation, obviously. I don’t even get a mention in the “Best Of” balloting that Urban Tulsa conducts annually. That’s okay. Someday, maybe.

When I moved the bookstore to the new location, I told the leasing agent that my old shelves wouldn’t be making the trip. I wanted nicer fixtures more appropriate to the renovated interior. Sometimes there are miracles. Just short of the move-in date, my son called with news that a nearby bookstore was shutting down and the owner offered her fixtures at a great price. The former Barnes & Noble shelving fits in nicely. I’m proud of how the shop is coming along, although it is nowhere near the point I’d hoped it to be by now.

I’m certainly thrilled to be in this building and part of the new Rose District.

As for other things “Coming up Roses…” Nephew Ryan installed Kristen’s outdoor sign-plaque this morning, another item on the long list of things I’ve been working on for the shop. They both did a great job and the store, I believe, is better off for it. Click on the image for a better look if you like…

Come visit!

McHuston

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

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