A Note on Audio Books
Hip Hop Alumni Stacks
Recently visited El Paso's main branch library downtown in search of the children's book When the Beat was Born written by Laban Carrick Hill and illustrated by Theodore Taylor III. I was on Alumni time during my lunch break to shoot photos of the library book copy for the upcoming text interview with Laban and Theodore. With no more than an hour to spare I tried to stay on task but couldn't help checking out Shange and Nelson's book Coretta Scott or the cool 45 vinyl display scattered throughout the lobby leading to Teen Town. Teen Town is a creative learning & reading space for El Paso's youth. The librarian working at Teen Town helped me find the call numbers "B KOO" for the Laban/Taylor book in the Children's Room. I took some photos of the book as displayed on the shelf and made my way out before noticing a bin lined up with audio books and a poster that read... "Get Your Audio Books Here... or Online!" What stopped me in my tracks was the headphone set and vinyl record design that decorated the poster.
I also stopped because I've NEVER listened to an audio book...Richard Pryor's Furious Cool was front and center...the first copy I noticed in the bin. I thought about checking it out but doubted whether I'd have enough mental space to add this on to everything else I want to listen to, read, or watch throughout the week. But then I thought about all the time I spend commuting to and from work and the time I spend between headphones when I'm online or at the gym. Hours on end dedicated to album after album or podcast after podcast. I got to thinking that an audio book in the mix wouldn't be so bad if I got a lil' disciplined about the time I set aside for audios.
I've been curious about audio books for a while. An eMusic subscriber since 2003, I noticed they started adding audio book files a few years ago. To access the audio books though, eMusic subscribers have to pay on top of the already overpriced monthly cost. I wasn't interested in hearing an audio book that bad. Plus I wasn't sure I'd be able to pay much attention to a recording of someone reading all day. But with the Furious Cool audio, this was an opportunity to learn about the King of Comedy himself, Richard Pryor.
A week before I found Furious Cool I was listening to Pryor's Wanted LP from 1978 and was thinking about the upcoming biopic. I learned about the film listening to Mike Epps on Sway in the Morning. Thinking about biopics in general, I thought about how bad those films can be. Flicks like Notorious, a Hendrix film I saw a while back, Iron Lady, Ray, or the Bruce Lee biopic from the 90s...While I hope Pryor's biopic doesn't get filtered through the ever repeating failure these movies can be, I felt inspired to make effort to know more about the details of his life through a literature source before a movie.
To date of this post, I'm making my way through part two of Furious Cool, which is narrated by Dion Graham, who fans will remember from The Wire. Graham was the State Attorney character. The book is written by blood brothers David and Joe Henry. Cracking the case open, it wasn't what I expected for an audio book. I think I expected to see a collection of CDs but it was a cartridge and a battery. The Playaway cartridge is perfect for the auxiliary cable that connects to the stereo in my car... also each time you stop and play, the audio book picks up a few sentences from where it left off. Like his acting on screen, Graham masters the vocal representation of characters like Red Foxx and Miles Davis keeping the reader engaged as the imagination flips through each scene like a page.
It's an incredible #listen and yet another free resource to access at your local public libraries. For Hip Hop Alumni, the audio book is also another source to consider adding into the stacks, especially as it relates to audio books that are connected to Hip Hop culture.
Til' the next audio chapter. Peace.
-Lee
ps: Need to find out what's good with the library's online option for audio books!
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