May Flowers… and Transitions
I haven’t posted recently because, other than visiting family over the Christmas holidays, I’ve relied on virtual interactions. This has also been due to living at my home computer writing my second book. It’s taken over a decade to research and compile contents for the project–actually, I took four years away from that project to write and get So You Want to Sing Spirituals published. However, I finally got the final edits and indexing to the publisher in March. As I write this post, I’m approximately six weeks away from getting the hot-off-the-presses book in my hands. If all goes as I hope, this hovering around the homestead should change in May. In addition to the book release on the 18th, I’m scheduled to present at the annual conference of the Association of Recorded Sound Collections in Pittsburgh that very weekend (perfect timing, IMO–which never humble). In fact, if all…
On the Road (Day Three)
Took the Ohio Coastal Trail on the way to Oberlin in the hope I’d get to see something interesting along the way. The only thing that got my attention was the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant. I don’t think I’ve ever been that close to one before. Spent most of the afternoon doing research at the Oberlin Conservatory’s music library. They have a beautiful goldfish pond outside the building, where I ate lunch and enjoyed the fish. Found a number of scores by Margaret Bonds, R. Nathaniel Dett, William Grant Still, Edward Boatner, and Wiliams Arms Fisher that I didn’t have. Got to Erie, Pennsylvania, in the early evening and found the campus identified on the Web as connected with the H. T. Burleigh collection. However, as I suspected, it was too late to find anyone around to ask about it. So, checked into my home for the night. Decided it…