Get Your Groove On! Join the Tannery Reading Series for Are You Cool?, an evening of all things literary and musical. Boogie down to the Jabberwocky Bookshop this Saturday at 7pm to find out what makes feet tap, bodies sway and words and music smolder.
Award-winning music writer Peter Guralnick (Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley, Searching for Robert Johnson.), poet Major Jackson (Hoops, Holding Company) and musical duo Belle Boussole will swing from the rhythms of Jazz, Blues, Electro-soul and Rock-and-Roll to the beats of poetry and prose.
The evening’s program will include: Peter Guralnick on Sun Records, American cool and the invention of Rock-and-Roll; Major Jackson on love, hoops, rhymes and his brand new book.
Belle Boussole, on rhythm guitar and vocals, will heat up the night with Elvis, Sun Ra and their own funky, lounge grooves.
Peter Guralnick
Guralnick is an acclaimed writer, critic and historian of American roots music, whose work has argued for the vitality of intertwined black and white traditions (blues, gospel, country, soul, and rock ‘n’ roll). His prize-winning, two-volume biography of Elvis Presley was declared “the finest rock-and-roll biography ever written” by the New York Times; his last book, Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke, has been hailed as “monumental, panoramic, an epic tale told against a backdrop of brilliant, shimmering music, intense personal melodrama, and vast social changes.”
Major Jackson
Major Jackson is the author of two collections of poetry: Hoops (Norton: 2006) and Leaving Saturn (University of Georgia: 2002), winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize and finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award. Acclaimed by the New York Times as “witty, musical and intelligent” Jackson’s poems “rumble,” “rock” and “hauntingly reflect urban decay and violence, yet at the same time…rejoice in the sustaining power of music and the potency of community.” His third volume of poetry Holding Company will makes its debut at The Tannery Reading Series.
Belle Boussole
Belle Bousoule [bell boo-soul] is noted for their funky rhythm guitar and silky vocal solos. This husband/wife duo (producer/musician Bryan McGurn, and vocalist Nicole McGurn) defines their music as “electro-soul,” combining influences ranging from classic soul to electro-lounge. Their self-titled, debut album has just been released.
This is the second event in the new Tannery Reading Series. The series aims to bring authors to the North Shore whose writing confronts the world in essential and curious ways. Showcasing newly evolving as well as traditional forms, burgeoning talent and the well-loved names of our age, the objective of each event is to create something smart, combustible and fun. Check them out at www.tanneryseries.com.
The night is FREE to Attend. Click here to register.
This event is sponsored by Newburyport Today and The Tannery Marketplace
