UPCOMING EVENTS

COMING UP .....
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19th 7:30pm THRESHOLD THEATER--DWELLING IN POSSIBILITY--FALL FORWARD Dwelling in Possibility....Fall Forward with Threshold Ensemble
Stories about What's Coming from the Future" The return of Threshold, for another intimate evening where your life stories are brought to life by this great improv theater and music ensemble. $15 Donation. Great Food and Drinks--including beer from Fremont Brewing--available. More Info: http://www.thresholdensemble.org/

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20th 7:30pm JIM PAGE RETURN CONCERT Seattle's Legendary Bard Poet and Guitarist, Jim Page returns for another evening of original songs, from love songs, to social commentary, to sharp political commentary. Always a treat. A favorite of Bonnie Raitt. No Cover. Donation Appreciated. Great food and drinks--including beer from Fremont Brewing. Hear Jim's music: http://www.myspace.com/seattlejimpage/


FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26Th 7:30pm PICKLED OKRA IN CONCERT.
We keep serving them up, and you keep asking for another helping. So here they are. There are many bluegrass and old-timey bands in the Northwest, but none quite like PICKLED OKRA. They breathe new life into a classic genre with fresh ideas and playful family charm. Conceived in 2006 by a husband and wife team, Todd and Paisley Gray, playing of mandolin, upright bass, and banjo leaving plenty of room for their rich vocal harmonies. New bandmates, and Alyse Read (banjo) complete the band's rich sound.
Yes they all know their bluegrass licks and aren’t afraid to show them off, and their music is full of ideas borrowed from old time fiddle tunes, jazzy delta blues, pop, rock, reggae and funk as we. No Cover. Donations appreciated. Hear Pickled Okra: http://getokra.com/fr_home.cfm.


SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27th 7:30pm COMMUNITY OPEN MIC--HOSTED BY COUTH BUZZARD'S THEO DZIELAK
Hey, we had so much fun at the last weekend Community Open Mic, we decided to do it again. There is so much talent in our Community. Come Strut you stuff: Music, Poetry, Stories, Dance, Rants, Whatever. No Cover. Sign-up at 7pm Come early. Great Food and Drinks--including beer from Fremont Brewing--available.
OPEN MIC...Strut Your Stuff....Every Wednesday at 7:30pm. it is growing more popular weekly. Come discover all the great talent in our community. Music, Dance, Stories, Poems, Comedy, Whatever. Sign-up is at 7pm. Drink Available.

Writer's Group Now you have two Writer's Groups to choose from: Writing with Marilyn meets every Monday at 7pm and is for those need fun exercises to perk up their creative muse. Writer's Sharing Group is for Writer's already working on something, wanting friendly tips and critiques. Every Tuesday at 7pm.

Another Obit On Books and Bookstores

Reports of the Death of Bookstores are Greatly Exaggerated

In today's Seattle Times, columnist Danny Westneat wrote another story on the impending last breath of bookstores in Seattle and the nation. You can read it here at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/dannywestneat/2010939207_danny31.html. If you have the time, read the reader's comment too. Overall, the comments possess a more nuanced and accurate take on what is happening and will probably happen to books and brick and mortar bookstores. Some of the comments are unintentionally hilarious (and provide this author with future comic material), such as the following from Paul000: "The independent bookstores in Seattle serve a niche of people that mostly includes liberal women (who probably are the biggest book readers), homosexuals, and other "progressive" urban types. If you don't want to buy that type of literature, then you are out of luck."
Well, there you have it: Liberal women, progressive urban-types and homosexuals. While Couth Buzzzard Books Espresso Buono Cafe certainly enjoys catering to those three demographics "types" we also believe that the future of independent bookstores is contingent upon serving everyone in our "community."
And serving community is an vital bookstore function missed in the Westneat article.
Sure bricks and mortar bookstores are closing here in bookstore-rich Seattle and across the country. But places like Couth Buzzard Espresso Buono serve needs--primal needs perhaps--that online booksellers and Kindlesque devices can never, never meet: the human need for true, face-to-face social contact, communication, interaction: instantaneous communication--faster and more giddy-inducing than any Giga Network number promised by any Corporation.
And speaking of Corporations, online buyers of books and of downloads for their Kindle-Ipad-UPlod devices should contemplate the fact that for each "purchase" they make, their "profile" is being scooped up and "gathered" and stored, and plugged into unimaginative algorithms of market stereotypes and then spit back out to them as personable "We Recommend Just For You" embedded and unavoidable Pop-Up advertisements, which also serve the purpose of cataloging your reading "habits" for use by these web-based corporations for future "market" strategies, and for sale to other corporations that also do not have your best interest in mind, and, perhaps also to government agencies who--as they have in the past-may take an interest in just what is (your name) reading these days.
Well, there is no gathering of buyer information at Couth Buzzard Espresso. We are a Free Speech and Privacy Honored Zone.Our goal is to stock a complete variety of books, from best sellers to collectibles and obscure titles, and to serve as a physical meeting place for all people in our true "community." It's not just about books, its about knowledge, and sharing and coming together, creating community, One Book, One Cup at at Time.
Maybe Danny Westneat should have interviewed us before writing his Obit to Bookstores column.

1 comment:

  1. It is difficult to ascertain the point of your comments. You apparently disagree with Westneat’s article for some reason (and your co-owner breathlessly tweets that it is “another misguided article.” But what is “misguided” about the article? You don’t really say. For the most part, Westneat’s article deals with cold financial facts. You spend more time taking easy pot shots at one of the dumbest responses to Westneat’s article than making a coherent comment about the article itself. Your point seems to be something along the lines of: “don’t be overly concerned about the closing of B & M bookstores as we will continue to be here and Mr. Westneat forgot to mention us.”

    I think you have totally missed the point. Westneat, for the most part, is talking about “book stores.” You are a “used book store.” Big difference. In fact, Westneat acknowledged that some “used book stores” will survive. But the gradual disappearance of “book stores” (as opposed to “used book” stores), represents a significant loss. The differences between a "book store" and a "used book store" are many and obvious. You seem to imply that “book stores” are disappearing in part because they do not offer enough “community” and you have “community” to spare. But “community” is not limited to belly dancers and coffee. If you think that the late, lamented “book stores” mentioned in Westneat’s article lacked “community,” then you obviously never patronized any of those book stores.

    I enjoy “used book stores” and have supported many over the years. But no matter how many cabaret evenings, open mikes, or game boards you provide, you cannot turn a “used book store” into a “book store.” And ultimately, no matter how many times you chant “community,” you provide not one cent of support to the authors, publishers, and distributors who create the product that you sell. The fact that some “used book stores” will survive is not surprising. But in my opinion, it is not an occasion to rejoice or boast.

    ReplyDelete