arts, books and music

McKeown’s Books and Difficult Music to close at end of January

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In a world of electronic ink, instant-prime shipping and streaming digital video, January 2014 will bring the final chapter for McKeown’s Books and Digital Music, the little Tchoupitoulas Street refuge from the modern world where the music was meant to be heard quietly and the most important feature was a round table in the center where patrons could sit, read and talk together. Maggie McKeown, the shop’s irrepressible proprietress, announced in a New Year’s Day email to supporters that the store will close at the end of the month, with all used books 50 percent off until then. Even the book shelves are for sale. “On February 1, 2005, I opened McKeown’s Books and Difficult Music on Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans,” she wrote. “Joseph Campbell may have said ‘follow your bliss’ but he also talked about the inevitability of change.

arts, books and music

Friday reading, Sunday computer musician performance at McKeown’s Books

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McKeown’s Books hosts a reading from six New Orleans authors Friday (Nov. 9) and “He Can Jog” computer musician Sunday (Nov. 11). For more information see the following press release from McKeown’s Books:

Friday – November 9, 2012
7:00 pm
FREE
Readings from six New Orleans authors:
HOW the SKINNY VICTORY of BUTCHER’S SUGAR became SPITSHINE ERRATA
Carolyn Hembree – Skinny
Ben Kopel – Victory
Brad Richard – Butcher’s Sugar
Anne Marie Rooney – Spitshine
Geoff Wyss – How
Michael Allen Zell – Errata

Sunday – November 11, 2012
7:00 pm
FREE
“He Can Jog ” – a pop-up diff music in the difficult music series
He Can Jog is computer musician Erik Schoster and friends from Milwaukee Wisconsin. As He Can Jog he has released three full length records and a smattering of EPs, remixes,
and sundry recordings on a number of small labels including Nomadic Kids Republic,
Listening Party, Audiobulb Records and The Leaf Label.

arts, books and music

Unique instruments at Evening of Difficult Music series Saturday

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Musicians Simon Berz and Klass Hubner perform at McKeown’s Books and Difficult Music as the 40th installment of the Difficult Music series Friday (Nov. 3). For more information see the following press release from McKeown’s Books and Difficult Music:

Simon says: “An abattoir of electronic beats, noises and rhythmical weirdness”

Please join us next Saturday, November 3, 2012 from 8:00 – 10:00 pm
for the 40th in the series of diff music concerts at McKeown’s Books. Simon Berz returns from Switzerland for his third concert here. He will be playing the Lithophone, an instrument derived from stones from the Alps,
drums and DIY electronics.

arts, books and music

Festive weekend Uptown: Movies, books and music

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Uptown New Orleans abounds with festival offerings this weekend, including New Orleans Film Festival screenings at the Prytania Theatre, a children’s book festival and Friday night symphony at Latter Library, the Gert Town festival, and a number of more specific celebrations. As the New Orleans Film Festival opens today, the Prytania Theatre’s offerings could hardly be more varied: a high-art silent French film that rocked the Cannes Film Festival, a documentary about the corruption surrounding last year’s oil spill, and a horror flick deemed one of the most obscene ever made. The pattern continues throughout the weekend (our pick? The Wire’s Michael Kenneth Scott in Louisiana swamp-set “Bayou Black,” showing with “Lord Byron” on Saturday evening); see the New Orleans Film Society website for a full schedule at the Prytania, Zeitgeist, Ashe Cultural Arts Center, Second Line Stages and citywide. On Friday evening, the second annual Children’s Book Festival will launch with “Twinkle, Twinkle,” a symphony performance of music inspired by children’s literature, on the Latter library lawn at 6:30 p.m. The book festival itself will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, and will feature noted children’s authors reading from their books and other activities for children.

arts, books and music

Movies, “difficult” music and Midsummer Mardi Gras – exciting Uptown weekend

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Movies for families and philosophers, music that you might not find at Jazzfest, an arts market and an especially irreverent parade — the variety of special events around Uptown this weekend defies easy summary. Opera | A Spanish Summer Soiree hosted by the Junior Committee of the Women’s Guild of the New Orleans Opera Association will feature Spanish arias at the Opera Guild Home, 2504 Prytania Street in the Garden District, starting at 6 p.m. Friday. Tickets start at $25; call 529-2278 for details. Rising Tide pre-party | Get together with the organizers and participants of this year’s “Rising Tide 6: A Conference on the Future of New Orleans,” Tracey’s Bar, 2604 Magazine Street. Spirituality in Film | This series will screen the 2010 Cannes award winner “Of Gods and Men” at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Parker Church, 1140 Nashville.