Two For the Show

by Scowl-Face
Cauli's Minion
Guest Blogger

Cauli asked me to blog about the second anniversary of the Library's YouTube Channel, which began two years ago today (January 9).

My, how the time has flown past!  It seems like only yesterday that Broadway Gal asked moi (see, I can sound like Cauli, too) to make a book trailer and post it to YouTube.  I had never heard of a book trailer and thought YouTube was simply some online repository of goofy adolescent videos.  Shows how little I knew.

So I chose as my first book trailer attempt an obscure paranormal treatise entitled True Ghost Stories, by Marchioness Townshend of Raynham and Maude M. C. ffoulkes (reprint ed., Konecky & Konecky, 2009).  A facsimile of the original 1936 edition (London: Hutchinson), the work is an interesting collection of phantom encounters, most of which one will not find in typical haunted house collections.

Want to see the book trailer?  Say yes, please and thank you.  It would make me happy (but how could anyone tell?)

Our latest book trailer was finished late last night.  By comparison, I hope it's an improvement.

This was Gene Stratton-Porter's final novel, The Keeper of the Bees, which was published posthumously in 1925.  Stratton-Porter (1863-1924) probably wasn't expecting this to be her last published work, but it is a fine example of her naturalist writing, with plenty of her moral and ethical perspective infused in the text to satisfy fans.  For anyone else, it is a magnificently crafted, superbly written tale of the restorative powers of the human spirit.  Once again, her descriptive capabilities, which were typical of her other novels, were the distinctive feature of the story and were unsurpassed here.  Do we have the title available in our online Evergreen Indiana catalog?  Naturally.  (Get it?  Stratton-Porter was a naturalist, so, naturally . . .  Well, Cauli does some bad puns, too, you know.)

What have we to show for two years of YouTube Channel mischief?  We have uploaded 235 videos, which have been viewed (so far) a total of 83,131 times.  Our most-viewed video, a book trailer for the children/young adult novel Island of the Blue Dolphins (1960), by Scott O'Dell, just passed the 18,000 viewership mark.  Want to see it?  Once again, please and thanks.

Why have we made so many videos?  Well, it's fun, and it beats the drudgery of actual work.  Plus, in our meager fashion, we are promoting reading and literacy.  That's a good goal for a library, eh?

Thanks for watching.  Our eternal gratitude to The Music Man for allowing us to use (royalty-free) his wonderful musical compositions as soundtracks to most of our videos.  We simply could not have done it without him!  Cauli has become an integral part of our video productions, as you can see from our recent book trailers or promo (program) trailers.  So have Miss Jaymi (Wild Thang) and Sammy the Toucan, as you can see from their early literacy web site.  But we reserve a special place of distinction for Broadway Gal, who has orchestrated the Library's live-action music parody videos (and was the initiating force behind our involvement with video-making).  So hats off to my colleagues for their hard work and dedication.

Cauli will return presently to blog about something or other.  Meanwhile, thanks to her for letting me be today's guest blogger.

Scowl-Face

MPL Cauli Minion

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P.S.  Carl Perkins began "Blue Suede Shoes" (1955) with an inspired countdown, "Well, it's one for the money; two for the show; three to get ready; now go, cat, go!"  (Did Elvis Presley follow suit on his successful cover version?  I'm thinking so.)  So I borrowed a bit for the title of this blog posting.  The tune has been hailed as the first "rockabilly" song, which blended elements of blues, country, folk, and rock-and-roll music.  Here Perkins and his band play the song live on a television program (perhaps 1956?).  Fancy footwork!  The camera operator missed zooming on Perkins' fabulous guitar-picking during an instrumental solo, opting instead for the acoustic guitarist playing rhythm.  Oops.