From New York's Streets To The World, Musically

No, I'm not talking about West Side Story...

Tony Fletcher is no stranger to the New Brunswick scene; after all, he and his wife met at the Melody Bar. New Brunswick's scenesters know he's also no stranger to the New York scene, but Tony's inquisitive bent has lead him to wonder about other scenes that have occurred in New York throughout the 20th century, and (what with Tony being an excellent writer and all, certainly when considered in context with his other work, and especially when considered in comparison to my own) how they might be researched and chronicled...

...and that lead to the birth of his formidable book, All Hopped Up and Ready to Go: Music from the Streets of New York 1927-77. Tony regards his nearly 500-page work thusly:

"I wanted to write a history of New York City’s many important music scenes, showing not only how they went on to have an effect around the world, but how they related to each other, and how they were each the result of the city’s uniquely shifting demographics. The reality was that it became the most thoroughly detailed, heavily researched, painstakingly written and meticulously edited book I’ve ever penned."

He has rather thoughtfully posted the introduction and an online appendix (what, you just want to read about this stuff? Why not see and hear it, too?) at his iJamming! site (which is otherwise a great place to spend a while, too.)

Yours truly is picking it up; how about you?