BEA

As noted on Classics Rock!, independent booksellers found a sympathetic ear with singer/songwriter Al Stewart.  The first stanza of his song "Elvis at the Wheel" gives a nod to their plight:

There's an independent bookstore
The last one that remains
All the others you might look for
Have been eaten by the chains
They soldier on 
No one cleans the window panes

Yes, we featured this song once before but it seems appropriate to cite it again on this, the first day of BookExpo America.  I'm out the door right now on my way to the Javitz Center--should be quite a show!
(And thanks to Shelf Awareness for the shoutout!)

The Flip Side of July 4th

In honor of the Fourth of July weekend, which starts tomorrow and which I'm panting for, check out this song by Dave Nachmanoff (with an assist from Al Stewart) called The Loyalist, which depicts a ghostly figure who was on the wrong side of the Revolution.

If this encounter with a Tory makes your patriotic soul uncomfortable, you can always listen to Paul Revere and the Raiders. Or just open a few bottles of Sam Adams--you'll feel much better.

A Musical Interlude

Anyone concerned about the plight of independent bookstores will either be amused or appalled by the opening lines of Al Stewart's song "Elvis at the Wheel" from his 2008 CD Sparks of Ancient Light. Goes like this:

There's an independent bookstore
The last one that remains
All the others you might look for
Have been eaten by the chains
They soldier on
No one cleans the window panes

Here the song's narrator comes across a book that recounts a bizarre episode in which Elvis Presley sees the face of Joseph Stalin forming in the clouds. I have no idea what book this might be. Anyone know?

Incidentally, another song on the CD, "Shah of Shahs," was inspired by Ryszard Kapuscinski's book of the same name. The book's got a good pace, but I can't dance to it.