Today, February 12th
GET A FREE DOWNLOAD OF JAMES TAYLOR’S AUDIO MEMOIR, “BREAK SHOT.” Listen to Taylor’s “Break Shot: My First 21 Years” and you may never listen to his music the same way again. The early years that Taylor calls “the source of many of my songs” saw him trading the "wood smoke and moonshine" of North Carolina for the local color of Martha’s Vineyard; the break-up of his parents' marriage—and his family soon after (which he equates with a break shot in pool); committing himself twice to a psychiatric hospital, battling addiction, and the release of his breakout second album in 1970, “Sweet Baby James.” All by the age of 21.
Recorded in The Barn, his home studio in western Massachusetts, “Break Shot” is far from somber. Rather, it’s a uniquely immersive recounting of how the Grammy-winning, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient first found his musical path—and includes its own original score, an unreleased recording of the hymn "Jerusalem," selections from his soon-to-be-released “American Standard” album, and more.
“Break Shot: My First 21 Years” is free to Audible members and free with trial through April 2nd.
Top: In 1866 the Library began offering home delivery for members (the first such service of any non-profit library); Bottom: The Mercantile Library’s reading room, circa 1871.
NEW YORK’S MERCANTILE LIBRARY WAS FOUNDED 200 YEARS AGO TODAY. Created to provide the city's growing population of clerks with an alternative to the “immoral entertainments and vices of the city,” the Mercantile Association's first subscription circulating library had 700 volumes and was housed in rented rooms at 49 Fulton Street.
Over time it would amass 120,000 volumes, dozens of newspaper and magazine subscriptions, a “cabinet of minerals and shells” and collection of revolutionary medals; offer public lectures by the likes of Frederick Douglass and Mark Twain; and initiate home delivery for its members (a first for a non-profit library).
In two centuries, it has moved from its original home to Nassau and Beekman Streets; the Astor Opera House building on Lafayette Street and East 8th Street (becoming the nation’s largest circulating library the time); 17 East 47th Street (where it was rechristened, The Center for Fiction); and finally to its present home in downtown Brooklyn, co-owned with the Mark Morris Dance Group.
Click here to learn more about The Center for Fiction’s reading groups, writing workshops, and free or low-cost events featuring 100+ authors, translators, and critics each year.
THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX OF CHOCOLATES. I’ve always loved that laughable but charming Valentine’s Day ritual of seeing block-long lines weaving out of chocolate shops (like Li-Lac Chocolates on Greenwich Avenue)—each man in them having somehow put off buying a Valentine’s Day gift until 4:00PM that afternoon. With so many amazing artisanal chocolatiers online, their gift could have been met with TRUE delight—and the line avoided altogether.
Top to bottom: Red Velvet Heart Truffle; Full Sail Brewing Co. Truffle; Orange Grove Truffle.
9-piece collection features complex spirits from Oregon’s award-winning distilleries.
A print vendor’s Christmas gift was my introduction to Moonstruck Chocolate Co., which uses the “Rolex of chocolate,” Fortunato No 4, made from the cocoa beans of the thought-to-be extinct Pure Nacional tree nestled in Peru’s Marañón Canyon. Its sale is limited to a few elite makers; and Moonstruck makes the most if it. On my wish list: the Oregon Distillers Truffle Collection, featuring complex spirits like Rogue Ales® Dead Guy Whiskey, Clear Creek Distillery® Oregon Pear Brandy, and New Deal Distillery® Ginger Liqueur.
Note: Moonstruck ships next-day delivery (as do many online chocolatiers).
Moonstruck Chocolate Co., 6600 N. Baltimore Ave. Portland, OR; 503-247-3448; moonstruckchocolate.com