The Beiderbecke Affair has very kindly and generously been included on a list of the top fifty blogs about literature. You can find TBA perched at number thirty-six, under "Best Literature Blogs on a Specific Subject," where it reads:
This is a blog that concerns itself with things literary while also indulging in jazz musician Bix Beiderbecke and Korean culture. There hasn't been a new post in a while, but it is a useful stop if either topic interests you. It also contains recommendations on how to begin appreciating both.
True, there hasn't been a new post in a while, although the above honor provides a lovely excuse to rectify that. It's been a big year: a writing fellowship in France, a new house, a baby, and a book contract.
With regard to the latter, Finding Bix will explore the life and legend of the early jazzman Bix Beiderbecke with an emphasis on the ways in which Bix is still relevant to people today -- for instance in arguments about race, sex, drugs and alcohol, and family. The book also wonders why so many of us are so personally invested in this long-dead cornet player and whether that investment prevents us from getting at some important truths about the man. (See this post on the wonderful blog Ward 6 -- better deserving of a place in the top fifty, I think -- which initiates a far more clear-eyed discussion of this, vis-a-vis Ray Carver, than most of what I've seen among Bixophiles.)
Anyway, the publisher will be Speck Press, which just released a great new book by Ted Gioia, The Birth (And Death) of the Cool, which was reviewed in this morning's Washington Post. (Its prose is "lapidary"!) Look for Finding Bix, an aspirant to lapidariness, sometime in 2011.
And expect it to be dedicated to Molly & Beatrix (above) and armed with a big thank-you to all the readers of The Beiderbecke Affair, without whom, honestly, this book would not have been possible.
Congratulations on all that is good for you! I look forward to the book in 2011.
Posted by: gene | December 20, 2009 at 02:41 AM
What accomplishments--to birth a baby and a new Bix Book! Congratulations!
Fifty-four years after I found the album Bix & Tram, v.2 in a department store record bin and literally wore the grooves off of the LP, I this year discovered that Bix's work was available in MP3 and was immediately bowled over again with the beauty of it all. I've read the Sudhalter, Berton, and Lion books and look forward greatly to yours!
Posted by: Glenda Childress | December 27, 2009 at 07:19 PM
What's up, B! Congratulations on all fronts. What a beautiful little girl. And I can't wait to read the book.
If you're ever in NYC, give me a shout. It'd be great to have a beer and reminisce about days playing guitar and organizing in Iowa City.
Posted by: Mike | January 01, 2010 at 08:43 PM
iterally wore the grooves off of the LP, I this year discovered that Bix's work was available in MP3 and was immediately bowled over again
Posted by: schmuck | September 24, 2010 at 11:24 PM