I coulda, shoulda been a drummer, maybe. But despite playing 'drums' for hours with mum's knitting needles on the sofa (those deep cushions created a great sound!) when I was a kid, having seen Buddy Rich on Sunday Night at the Palladium, it wasn't to be.
Malcolm (professor in the Guildhall Jazz faculty and Artistic Director of Jazz for the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland) popped in the shop again last Saturday and we talked drummers, both agreeing that it was a thoroughly unnatural thing to want to be doing, although I'm sure he can't say that to actual drummers that he works with. Then we pondered what makes a young person want to drum. I didn't tell him my Buddy Rich story because we got onto Joe Morello of Dave Brubeck fame and specifically his playing on Take Five since I'd played it recently and, once again, marvelled at Morello.
It's always good to chat music with Malcolm when he comes in. We've just had a large batch of Music books in but he already had most that he wanted. Music sells fairly well in the shop - not as well as I expect, mind, because I'm still looking at all those books and names through my old fanatical eyes from when I bought a lot of Music books whereas nowadays, not so much and yet I expect everyone else to be as keen on the subject as me - still! What's wrong with you?! Buying bloody Wittgenstein when words on Tom Waits are round the corner! Pah!
Bless the Philosophy consumers, though, because that huge batch we got in recently needs thinning out, what with some Hegel still buried in boxes on the floor. Shame we can't get more copies of Nietzsche's Beyond Good And Evil - what a star he is! He's the bloody Elton John of philosophy! No, no, I mean...the...never mind. Just the other day someone asked for a copy but I'd sold the last one earlier in the week. I wonder, briefly, in a moment of madness, whether The Pop Group have anything to do with the popularity of that book. Then I remind myself that most buying it are too young for The Pop Group to be influential, surely. One key factor must be the title, I mean, what a title! Philosophical Investigations doesn't come close (too literal, man!). An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding? Very droll. Older philosophers could have sold a lot more books had they been as savvy as contemporary would-be philosophy popularisers, with titles like The World's Fucked and So Are You, and Kill Your Brain With Ideas. Not forgetting The Yummy Mummy Book of Philosophy.
Before I go I have to mention another classic price quibble from Thursday. A guy is interested in a copy of the Koran (Penguin, 1983). He wants to know the price...thinks the four pound written inside could be the price but can't believe it because...wait for it...he turns the book over and points to the original £1.95, reminding me of what it says - yes! Another one! I laugh, saying "Prices have gone up a bit since then." Duh.
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