The Bebop Bridge

East may be East, and West may be West – but music is universal, and if the music is jazz, it’s even open all night!

On Wednesday, Sept. 30 from noon to 1 p.m., Larry Appelbaum, the Library of Congress’ jazz music specialist, will co-anchor “A Russian-American Jazz Summit – Conversations on the American Influence on Russian Jazz” with Cyril Moshkow, editor-in-chief of the site Jazz.ru.   The dialogue will be in Dining Room C of the Library’s James Madison Memorial Building at 101 Independence Ave., S.E. in Washington.  The event, cosponsored by the Open World Leadership Center and the Library’s Music Division, is free and open to the public.

Appelbaum says he knows Moshkow “because we’re both jazz journalists and have met in various cities around the world” at jazz events they’ve both covered.

“When I heard he was coming to Washington, I thought it would be nice to have a conversation with Cyril about what’s going on on the Russian jazz scene and specifically, how much of the language of Russian jazz is American, and how much is Russian? In other words, what is Russian about Russian jazz? So we’re going to try and get at that in our conversation.”

Washington Post Coverage of the National Book Festival

The Washington Post had some nice coverage of Saturday’s National Book Festival, including a video asking authors what they would do if they were “literature czar” and what their favorite books are.  Also featured was a brief interview with the always delightful poet laureate (a position appointed by the Library of Congress), Kay Ryan. By …

Read more »

A Dozen Ways to Experience the National Book Festival

Whether you can be in Washington tomorrow or not, there are many ways for everyone to be a part of the 2009 National Book Festival.  I came up with at least a dozen: 1. Attend!  It’s tomorrow (Sept. 26) from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EDT on the National Mall (between 7th and 14th), rain …

Read more »

Read.gov: Rarely Has Reading Been So Much Fun

The next two days for us will be a whirlwind of events as we celebrate the ninth annual edition of the National Book Festival.  But there’s one aspect I just absolutely had to call out. Our folks have been busily working behind the scenes on a revamp of our literacy.gov website, which promotes lifelong literacy …

Read more »

Wired into the National Book Festival, Wirelessly

Jennifer posted earlier today about Saturday’s National Book Festival, but I had to get in my two cents. The NBF is special to me for more than one reason.  First, it’s something on which a huge team of talented folks including me work intensively for about five or six months every year.  It’s hard to …

Read more »

By the Time We Got to Bookstock …

Right now, here and there all over the world, people are sitting down with a good book and enjoying a good read. Sprawled on the lawn, curled up on the sofa, sitting on the steps in the piazza — they’re communing with a great author, or a funny author, or an author who’s telling them …

Read more »

Do Your Homework (Literally!)

In today’s economic environment, there are good reasons to wonder about the feasibility of working from home.  And we’re not talking telecommuting, here – we’re talking about self-employment.  It doesn’t have to be all about Hard Times.  Perhaps you’re just ready to do what you love, all the time – like the local woman who …

Read more »

Flickr Continues its European Tour

The Library of Congress’ popular site on Flickr now features a set of lovely, century-old photochrom images of buildings and scenery from Belgium.  Even if you don’t know your Flemings from your Walloons, these 108 pictures of places like Antwerp and Blankenberghe, Liege, Ghent and Louvain will transport you to times of yore.