Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Nathan Larson's The Dewey Decimal System


It was 2001, and I was working at a public relations firm in New York City, where most of my accounts were music-related, with one being an independent label called Artemis Records, started by the legendary Danny Goldberg.  In working with this label over the next few years, I got to know Goldberg and began listening to the various artists signed to the label, my favorite being the music of Nathan Larson.  With a background as a rocker in the band Shudder to Think to his solo album Jealous God to eventually composing award-winning music scores for Boys Don’t Cry, The Messenger, Choke, and countless other films, Nathan has proven he is nothing but genius when it comes to writing and producing music.  

While we had never met, nor worked together during our experiences with Artemis, it seems odd, yet somehow fitting, that ten years later Nathan and I would cross paths, however, not at a music event, but at book festival.  With Nathan a new author, and me a librarian - career fields we both probably never pictured for ourselves in 2001.  Another example that anything can happen in this journey called life if you are open to what opportunities it offers us.

With the release of his new book, The Dewey Decimal System, Nathan can now add published author to his long list of credits, and having read it, I have no doubt he will be exceptionally successful at it.  Plus, debuting a book featuring a lead character living in the main branch of the New York Public Library is a smart way to get me into doing PR again since here I am talking about it.

So for my first-ever post about a book on this blog, I hope you will enjoy this interview with rocker/film composer/author Nathan Larson and The Dewey Decimal System, as we discuss his love for the New York Public Library, the importance of supporting all libraries, his experiences in writing, and his latest project, doing the musical score for the film adaptation of Judy Blume’s Tiger Eyes, directed by her son, Lawrence Blume.

For more information on Nathan Larson:
http://nathanlarson.net/

To purchase The Dewey Decimal System:
http://www.akashicbooks.com/deweydecimalsystem.htm

*And FYI, you have no idea how much great footage I have with Nathan as we talked about everything from Warren Zevon & Carl Hiaasen to the children’s and YA books of our youth to his numerous other projects in the works.  Perhaps I will share more at a later date but I know I only have your attention for so long.  I tell you, it never gets old to see how the love of books brings people together!