Lemuria Bookstore Blog

Mississippi, the State of the Blues, giving birth to this truly American art form. Baptizing of a music all its own to spread to the world. Mississippi, the State of the Blues today, Scott with words, Ken with eyes, picture our blues in the present. Young and old musicians are alive and well, performing and [...]

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Last year about this time, I made a pilgrimage to West Point paying respects to an all-time hero, Howlin’ Wolf. I started listening to his music over 40 years ago, and to say his musical influence on me is huge is an understatement. The Howlin’ Wolf Blues Museum is really a small room in size [...]

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On April 12, 1973, at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, (my first jazz fest), I heard and saw 300 pounds of heavenly joy. Howlin’ Wolf, though ailing, worked his magic which still lives for me 37 years later. His gripping voice, primal and nasty, rocked my house. Wolf’s passion transferred his presence into my world [...]

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Moanin’ at Midnight: The Life and Times of Howlin’ Wolf by James Segrest and Mark Hoffman Pantheon (2004) Howlin’ Wolf (Chester Arthur Burnett)–all six feet three inches and 300 pounds of him–is a god of the blues. Moanin’ is the first full length biography capturing this giant of American music. From a hard childhood around [...]

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An ultimate compliment for Lemuria was to be Eudora Welty’s hometown bookstore. Her graceful light shone on us as she shared her heart. Through her goodness and belief in our work, she gave herself in our support. Eudora’s sharing of her love for books made Lemuria better. Her wisdom guided our evolution, enabling us to [...]

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A Long Bright Future: The Very Good News about Living Longer by Laura L. Carstensen, Ph.D. Broadway (August 2009) Today there are about 50,000 100-year-old folks in the USA. By 2050, when I’m a hundred I likely will have a million peers. Can “old age”  be a long life? How many of us will grow [...]

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In Such Hard Times: The Poetry of Wei Ying-wu Copper Canyon Press (2009) Last July I blogged about Hinton’s fine translation of Classical Chinese Poetry. While enjoying that book, I stumbled upon a poet I haven’t read much of, Wei Ying-wu. I tried to find a collection of his poems and couldn’t. Soon after the [...]

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I love to look at cool photograph books about music I care about. It’s fun and brings back many memories, sights and sounds of good times shared with friends and family. Our music gives Mississippians so much to be proud of as it enhances the quality of our lives. Blues, Booze, & BBQ is a [...]

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The Invisible Gorilla and Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons (Crown, 2010) Chabris and Simons shared the 2004 IG Nobel Prize in psychology for their now famous “Gorilla Experiment”. While teaching at Harvard 12 years ago, this single experiment launched a whole new wave of ideas on how we [...]

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How to Be an Adult Relationships: The Five Keys to Mindful Loving by David Richo Shambhala (2002) I would venture to say that we all have problems in the relationships we share with those we care the most about. It’s how we interact and respond to these problems that often solve the conflict or result [...]

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