Princeton Library Lounge

A true artist cuts through the noise and affects you. They are so adept at their skill that you are not quite sure how they have done it. They grab you and don’t let go until they are done, and, if you are lucky, you are left puzzled, wondering what you have just experienced. Sekou Sundiata was in this category. The 58-year-old poet and performance artist truly defied description. I had the incredible fortune of being in his presence and seeing him perform at the Nuyorican Poets Café, a lifetime ago while working at the record label (an archaic idea now) that produced his CD, “The Blue Oneness of Dreams”. His work was a unique form of poetry, mixed with music, rhythms, raw emotion and amazing perception. He was a force once experienced, never forgotten. If you have a moment, check out today's Fresh Air on NPR and the New York Times for more on this memorable and breathtaking artist.

The world has lost musical royalty today. Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti, 71, died this morning of pancreatic cancer. A proponent of bringing opera to the masses, Pavarotti was known for his truly unique, exquisite sound and, in his later years, for appearing in more commercial, mainstream performances, alongside the likes of Sting, Elton John and Bono. Distinctive for his sound, personality and charm, there will only be one Pavarotti and he will be sorely missed.

If you are a child of the (late) 60s, 70s, or 80s you could not have escaped the so-called "alternative music explosion". Luckily for fans of this long musical era the library has quite a few books and a large number of CDs for you to check out. The offerings are as varied as the music: general histories (From the Velvets to Voidoids), oral histories (the hilarious and often disturbing Please Kill Me), musical overviews (the 4 CD Left of the Dial compilation), pictorial works (CBGB & OMFUG: Thirty Years From the Home of Underground), histories of individual bands, and biographies and memoirs of influencial musicians.

Here's more of a sample:
Black postcards : a rock & roll romance / Dean Wareham.
Britpop! : cool Britannia and the spectacular demise of English rock / John Harris.
Left of the dial [sound recording] : dispatches from the 80's underground.
No Wave / Marc Masters ; edited by Rob Young.
Our band could be your life : scenes from the American indie underground 1981-1991 / Michael Azerrad.
Redemption song : the ballad of Joe Strummer / Chris Salewicz.
Rip it up and start again : postpunk 1978-1984 / Simon Reynolds.
Saint Morrissey : a portrait of this charming man by an alarming fan / Mark Simpson.
Spin : 20 years of alternative music : original writing on rock, hip-hop, techno, and beyond / edited by Will Hermes with Sia Michel.
This must be the place : the adventures of Talking Heads in the 20th century / David Bowman.
Whores : an oral biography of Perry Farrell and Jane's Addiction / Brendan Mullen.

If you don't see any CDs by or books about your favorite band just let us know. We love getting suggestions for books and music to add to our collection!

Submitted by A. Levie.