PEOPLE & PLACES

Hitting all the right places

Performance at bookstore's caf bring a little jazz to the mall

By Robert Knox, Globe Correspondent, 12/2/2001

INGSTON - Poised in a corner of the bookstore's cafe, guitarists Steven Kirby and Tim Miller nodded to one another and began a stylish rendition of a classic Jerome Kern tune.

The Sunday afternoon audience came and went. People bought coffee or sat down with their purchases. A small boy ate a large ice cream on a stick.

The new place in town to hear jazz or blues or an author read from a work is not a coffeehouse or club but Borders, a ''mega-store'' run by a corporation, in Kingston's Independence Mall.

''This is a real addition to the community,'' David Buckman of Plymouth said.

Like most of those who stopped to listen to the mellow jazz of Kirby and Miller on Sunday, David and Frimma Buckman were taking a break from shopping in the mall. People sat alone or in family groups at the small round tables in the store's cafe, some looking at magazines. A young woman wrote steadily in a notebook. Others sipped coffee and listened. Some talked softly, neither disturbed by the music nor disturbing others with their talk. One man ignored the musicians completely and appeared put out that he had to pour his own coffee from the bank of thermoses on the cafe's counter. ''Which one's your regular coffee?'' he asked.

A group of elementary school-age girls sitting with an adult suddenly became aware of the amplified guitar duets, tuned into the music, and stopped talking. One man applauded after Kirby and Miller finished a song. For most of Sunday afternoon's gathering, it was a background event.

''This is music you can talk around, read around, listen to, relax to,'' David Buckman said. Frimma Buckman said it was just the right volume.

''It's a nice low-key gig,'' said Kirby, who generally performs with his wife, flutist Christine Kirby, as the Alle Breve Duo. ''It's nice to play a casual type of event.'' The preparation is carefree. Attention is stricter and preparation greater, he said, for a concert appearance. A musician is likely to have more competing noise in a club or bar.

In operation for a year, Borders in Kingston schedules performances on Saturday nights, Sunday afternoons, and some Friday nights. Other Borders stores also book musicians on a regular basis.

For soft music performers like Kirby and Miller, Borders may be the only performance space in Kingston.

There aren't many coffeehouses around, said Damian Purro of Plymouth, a bass player. Paul Rishell and Annie Raines have played acoustic blues at Borders. And cited LaLa Java in Plymouth, which has a weekly jazz night. Ricky T's in Plymouth also has a jazz night, but generally features electric blues.

South Shore Folk Music Club performances are held at the Beal House in Kingston during the winter season. The club tends to book regional and national folk artists, but does have an open mike forum for local folk musicians.

Louise Mutterperl, the Borders area marketing manager, sees the performances as ''a great way to reach out to the community.'' They bring the arts to local audiences and bring people into the store, she said.

Borders also offers story times for children, organized by children's department manager David Cullen, on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. and Saturdays at noon. ''The Kingston store has a wonderful staff person who runs the story hour. They choose a theme every single week and they read books on that theme,'' Mutterperl said. ''If things are going well, the kids will start screaming and shouting, `I love this place!'''

Children's programs are a win for the community and the business, Mutterperl said. ''The kids drive what's going on in the family, but they don't drive the car,'' she said.

Sometimes parents end up participating in the children's activity, and ''grandparents especially'' tend to join the action, Mutterperl said.

Mutterperl said she is looking for more local performers to play at Borders.

Sunday's performers demonstrated a high musical standard. The duo began with a classy version of ''All the Things You Are'' by Jerome Kern, and followed it with another standard, ''My Romance'' by Rodgers and Hart. Both play electric guitar and traded off on lead. You can hear where the title for the CD ''Point of Balance'' by the Steven Kirby Quartet comes from. Miller, a guitar teacher at Berklee College of Music, has a CD of his own and will have a second soon.

The music in the cafe had some competition. Occasional PA announcements swallowed it up; the espresso machine whipped up a round of sound and fury. A dad sitting with his ice cream-eating son answered his phone. ''I'm at Borders,'' he said.

Other ensembles, store staff said, crank up the volume a little higher. The volume level is left up to the performers. On a recent Saturday, performers Sugar Ray and the Bluestones drew the largest audience seen at the store, music department manager Tim Birnstiel said. Cullen said blues aficionados can be relied on to turn out to hear their favorite bands.

Mayflower descendant Lesley Wheeler recently read from her mystery, ''Murder at Plimoth Plantation.'' The book was published by Larcom Press in Beverly. Peter Janson of Easton recently performed his New Age music on solo guitar.

Agnes Abrahamson, a longtime Scituate resident, read from her book ''Maggie's Hope'' recently. Mutterperl said the book is the story of a single mother's struggle to raise her family in Nova Scotia. Folk singer Adam Ezra performed the same evening. Readings take place in the front of the store, near the parking lot entrance.

This month's schedule includes photographer Seven SetteDucati, who will talk about his book of photographs taken of Boston's Big Dig at night.

This story ran on page 9 of the Boston Globe's South Weekly section on 12/2/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.