Books in Bill Quay

Once upon a time, as all good stories used to begin, there were bookshops everywhere. New ones, old ones, rare ones, specialised ones.

Now there is Waterstones and Borders.

I've nothing against those two stores - they sell books and I love books.

However, buying a new book can never replace the thrill of discovering an unknown gem in a second-hand bookshop. Yet, because of the paucity of stores dealing solely in used books, another thrill has been added - that of finding a second-hand bookshop!

Okay, I know there is no shortage of charity shops selling books - Oxfam even have ones selling nothing else - but it always appears to me that the charity shops all have the same books on their shelves!

Therefore, it was with unmitigated delight that I came across Bill Quay Books. That's right a bookshop in Bill Quay - a suburb of Gateshead!

So what has this to do with jazz?

Nothing! except that they had quite a few jazz books in the Music and Biography sections - although they had two less after I left clutching copies of Robert Hilbert's biog. of Pee Wee Russell & Bill Milkowski's "Swing It!" - An annotated History of Jive.

This is a small oasis in the cultural desert check it out.

Lance.

PS: Most of the above remarks could also apply to second-hand record stores.