{"id":54050,"date":"2024-05-11T08:39:38","date_gmt":"2024-05-11T12:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=54050"},"modified":"2024-05-11T08:39:39","modified_gmt":"2024-05-11T12:39:39","slug":"on-stage-extra-historic-germantown-presents-shows-on-history-of-us-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=54050","title":{"rendered":"On Stage (Extra): Historic Germantown presents shows on history of US music"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff<\/strong>, Entertainment Editor, The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

Roy Book Binder<\/p><\/div>\n

There is a special attraction coming to Philadelphia this year that gets underway this weekend.<\/p>\n

Like the wedding saying, \u201csomething old, something new, something borrowed, something blue,\u201d this weekend\u2019s event has all four.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething new\u201d is the series.<\/p>\n

Historic Germantown\u00a0(historicgermantownpa.org<\/a>) will present a series of six concerts,\u00a0\u201cMusic Alive: A Living History of 20th\u00a0Century American Music.\u201d<\/p>\n

The series will depict the progression of American roots music, blues and jazz beginning in the 1920\u2019s and traveling through the turn of the century with intimate concert performances from artists beginning with series opener,\u00a0Roy Book Binder\u00a0on May 11.<\/p>\n

The series takes place on the Second Saturday of each month through October and includes performances from\u00a0Saul Broudy,\u00a0Odean Pope\u00a0Quartet,\u00a0Bobby Zankel\u00a0and the Wonderful Sound Six,\u00a0Rhenda Fearrington,\u00a0Gloria Galante,\u00a0Jim Dragoni\u00a0and\u00a0Paul Woznicki.<\/p>\n

Each of the artists were curated for their national and international recognition as well as their historical knowledge of and their places in the chronology of musical history.<\/p>\n

Performances will take place in the\u00a0Historic Germantown\u00a0courtyard, located at 5501 Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia and shows begin at 4 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething old\u201d is Book Binder, who turned 80 this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething blue\u201d is actually \u201csomething blues,\u201d the music which Binder plays.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething borrowed,\u201d is some of the traditional blues music Book Binder shares with blues legends such as Reverend Gary Davis and Blind Willie McTell.<\/p>\n

Book Binder\u00a0is billed as \u201can American\u00a0blues\u00a0guitarist, singer-songwriter and storyteller, who is equally at home with blues and\u00a0ragtime.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a blues artist,\u201d said Book Binder, during a phone interview Thursday from somewhere in Pennsylvania. \u201cI\u2019m an entertainer who plays the blues. I play music and I tell stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Book Binder was somewhere in Pennsylvania as he was driving his \u201ctour bus,\u201d actually his comfortable motor home, with Philly as the eventual destination.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got my first bus\/motor home in 1976,\u201d said Book Binder. \u201cI gave up my place in Greenwich Village and lived on the road for 17 years \u2013 until I met my new wife in 1990. I\u2019ve had a lot of motor homes over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the winter, I stay in Florida \u2013 for the last 26 years. I have a home in St. Petersburg. In the wintertime, I don\u2019t tour. I just do about one gig a month locally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Book Binder, who grew up in Queens, N.Y., traces his music career back to his time in the Navy in the early 1960s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a kid on the ship from Oklahoma,\u201d said Book Binder. \u201cHe had a guitar and taught me some chords. So, I bought myself a guitar when we were somewhere off the coast of western Italy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother kid who was from Dallas who played sax. He had a battery-operated Victrola and introduced me to blues acts like Bobby Blue Bland. A third kid was from Brooklyn. He was reading F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jack Kerouac, so I borrowed some of his books.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though Book Binder is an octogenarian, he is still mentally sharp. He recalls things from 60 years ago with the accuracy of a teenaged boy remembering losing his virginity two months ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got out of the Navy in 1965 when Greenwich Village was still happening,\u201d said Book Binder. \u201cI went to junior college in Providence, Rhode Island on the G.I. Bill. I played my first open mic there in 1967. It was then that I knew I was going to do it the rest of my life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met Dave Van Ronk in Providence. A year-and-a-half later, I played an open mic in the Village and Dave heard my last song. I asked him if he remembered me. He said, \u2018I do\u2019 and \u2018You did.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went to his place and drank Irish whiskey all night. The thing I liked about him was that he made the music his own.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat led me to Reverend Gary Davis. I took a five-dollar guitar lesson with him. We talked and he wanted me to go on tour with him \u2013 but not as a musician. He was blind so he needed an assistant. I was part of Gary Davis\u2019 world until he died in May 1972.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon, Book Binder got involved in recording.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recorded a few tunes on anthologies in 1967 and 1968,\u201d said Book Binder, who was born Paul Roy Bookbinder. \u201cThen, I went to England where I really made my mark. I also got a gig playing with Arthur Crudup in 1969. Around that time, I signed with Adelphi Records.\u201d<\/p>\n

After meeting another of his musical influences, the bluesman\u00a0Pink Anderson, Book Binder released his first album,\u00a0\u201cTravelin\u2019 Man,\u201d on Adelphi in 1971. The album was named after one of the songs he learned from Anderson.<\/p>\n

Book Binder has released more than a dozen albums since then \u2013 the most recent of which is \u201cThe Good Book,\u201d which came out in 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important album is \u2018The Good Book,\u2019\u201d said Book Binder. \u201cIt was my best record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, almost 60 years since he started playing music, Book Binder is still at it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do around six gigs a month,\u201d said Book Binder. \u201cIn my live shows, I sing and I tell stories. There is no greater joy than making people laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for Roy Book Binder — https:\/\/youtu.be\/Ot7VVFxXYrM<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show on May 11 will start at 4 p.m.<\/p>\n

Other shows in the series are: June 8, Saul Broudy; July 13, Odean Pope Quartet; August 10, Bobby Zankel and the Wonderful Sound Six; September 14, Rhenda Fearrington, Gloria Galante, and Jim Dragoni; and October 12, Paul Woznicki.<\/p>\n

Tickets for an individual are $25 per show if purchased in advance, $30 at the door.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times There is a special attraction coming to Philadelphia this year that gets underway this weekend. Like the wedding saying, \u201csomething old, something new, something borrowed, something blue,\u201d this weekend\u2019s event has all four. \u201cSomething new\u201d is the series. Historic Germantown\u00a0(historicgermantownpa.org) will present a series of six concerts,\u00a0\u201cMusic Alive: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8457],"tags":[15622,4157,7426,12445,15621],"class_list":["post-54050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-d-arts-entertainment","tag-american-music","tag-blues","tag-featured","tag-historic-germantown","tag-roy-book-binder"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54050"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54051,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54050\/revisions\/54051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/54049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}