Some believe there is a right time and a right place for everything. The right place is Bogart’s Bookstore and Café in Millville, NJ. The right time is Friday evening and Saturday afternoon when local musicians and writers and poets join forces and take the floor. The audience is made of fine folks who stop at Bogart’s to sit down and sip made to order coffees while they are checking out books. There, they have the opportunity to listen to musicians singing and playing, and writers and poets doing a reading.
The bookstore’s owner is a lovely, smart and young lady, Amy Lombardo. Amy’s love for books and the arts show in her approach to book selling: both old-fashioned and modern. Amy delivers great books at great prices and hosts terrific artists to entertain her customers. The all American and old-fashioned spirit is the friendliness of the bookstore staff that make the people who walk in welcome at once. The modern concept is displayed beautifully in Amy’s approach to bring musicians to play and sing as well as writers and poets to do book signing and book reading.
Bogart’s is located in the historical and artistic Millville, Cumberland County, NJ. The town has numerous full time and part time art galleries in the Glasstown Arts District where on the third Friday of the month musicians allure customers into the town’s lovely shops and along the streets. Millville incorporates the American Main Street glamour and beauty in its stores and in its people.
I had the pleasure to do a book signing and reading at Bogart’s on April 25, 2009. I teamed up with a terrific and talented musician, Dan Godfrey. Dan has cut four great albums of his unique music -southwestern and light rock. Dan and I had a great time delivering poetry and music to Bogart’s patrons. A tender moment was when a mature gentleman congratulated me on what I have done in poetry. “I have a lot of respect for you, Sir”, he said.
Millville is proud of its former and current residents like “ The award winner A. R. Ammons (1926-2001), writer and poet” The horror fiction writer Julie Ann Dawson (1971- )” Guitarist for the heavy metal band Overkill – Merritt Gant (1971 – )
For a taste of true America, a visit at Bogart’s Bookstore and Café in Millville, NJ may turned out to be memorable. I can assure you if your visit is on Friday evening, you will enjoy great music, too. If you are lucky, you may even end up watching a writer or poet doing a book reading (To check out events at Bogart’s, visit http://www.bogartsbookstore.com/). If your visit is on the third Sunday afternoon of the month, your mind will be blown by several local poets reading their poems at Bogart’s. One thing is for sure: you will feel more American than when you walked into Bogart’s and you will leave with poetry and music in your heart.
God bless America, Bogart’s and Millville with its poets, musicians and fine folks!