This is the last day for the "Really Good Elevator Music" installation a few blocks down at the Asian Arts Initiative.  I went to the Asymptote reading there on Saturday night, and was really impressed with how they captured some of the sounds of the people and places of the neighborhood.  If you aren't close by and can't make it over to take the ride, you can at least listen online.  (You'll enjoy it more than a Muzak version of "Umbrella," I promise.)

Serendipitous Find

Wandering from the coffeehouse to my day job today, I realized that Bebashi is in our neighborhood. I stopped by to say hello and invite them to come grab coffee from us, and was please to find they have a "used books for sale" shelf.  So I picked up this one, which I'm long overdue to read.

Have you read it before?  What did you think?

Our haul from the book fair

Lots of beautiful photography at the Photo Arts Fair yesterday.  Fresh off our visit to the Alien She exhibit at our neighborhood gallery, Vox Populi, we picked up these two books from their table:

It's got the history of the gallery, overviews and images from past exhibits, as well as discussion about the history of other artist-run spaces in Philly (RIP, Space 1026). The essay with musings about art and commerce and our perpetual "Philly Complex" in regards to New York is pretty thought provoking...

And then there's this book, that looks at the larger implications behind the rise of DIY and craft culture, and sees creation as a political act. (There's a documentary as well.  Hmm...could we host a showing here?   Let us know if you'd be interested in that!)

Adding both to the catalog, and our shelves, right now.  

We're headed to the Philly Photo Arts Book Fair today to do a little book buying. See you there!

Pick of the Week

Got this one at the Charles Santore branch of the Free Library yesterday, in great shape, for a dollar.

Page One

Hello, dear readers. (And you are readers, or you wouldn't be here, right?) I'm the librarian at a coffeehouse in Philadelphia called Vice. Our logo says it all--coffee, tattoos, and books. I do librarianship in my full-time day job (I've almost done with my MLIS at Drexel, and work in non-profit management) but when this opportunity combining three of my favorite things presented itself, I couldn't say no.

The shop opened about two months ago, and our catalog includes almost 700 books. I thought it would be fun to share some of my on-a-shoestring budget book buying adventures, and I'll also share my book pick of the week, serendipitous finds, reviews, favorite bookstores, musings on books, reading, publishing, and libraries in general. (And of course, tattoos.) We welcome your ideas and comments!