In 2003 George Pelecanos was on a book tour that took him through Dayton. He came out to Yellow Springs to do a live interview. That was a memorable experience. It was my first interview with George and I must say that I was impressed.
George had written a really superb crime novel called "Soul Circus" which he set in his home town, Washington,D.C. He's one of those authors who like the Scottish novelist Ian Rankin, loves to make numerous musical references in his novels. George is like a walking encyclopedia when it comes to the subject of soul music from the 1970's. During our conversation that day he gave me a quiz and I flunked with a score of zero. I could not answer any of his music questions correctly. It was a bit embarrassing since I had been hosting music programs since the late 1970's and at the time I was talking to George I had been the music director at WYSO for the past decade. Oh well, funk and soul really wasn't my area. If it had been a quiz about British folk or progressive music from the 1970's I would have aced it!. Right.
During the interview he mentioned that he was working as a writer for a new TV series called "The Wire." 18 years later that show is now considered to be one of the greatest TV series ever. George is still writing for television and he puts out the occasional novel. He's truly one of the greats.
The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library, Clark County Public Library, Dayton Metro Library, and Wright Memorial Public Library.
