Josh Rosenthal is a Grammy-nominated producer as well as the founder of indie record label, Tompkins Square. Rosenthal and Steven Weiss, the curator of UNC's Southern Folklife Collection, will be at Flyleaf Books tonight to discuss Rosenthal’s book, “The Record Store of the Mind.” Staff writer Elizabeth Barbour spoke with Weiss about Rosenthal, the talk and what speakers mean for the Chapel Hill community.
The Daily Tar Heel: How do you go about getting people like New York Times Bestsellers to Flyleaf Books?
Steve Weiss: Well, in this case Josh (Rosenthal) actually contacted me about the possibility of doing this event with him, and so I was very honored.
DTH: Why do you think Josh Rosenthal is a good speaker for an area like Chapel Hill and Carrboro? What do you think the appeal is for him?
SW: He’s done a number of things, but I think most significantly it’s his independent record label, Tompkins Square. They’ve done a lot of really interesting work, a lot of interesting releases and some of the subject matter in the book relates to North Carolina or music that’s popular here in North Carolina.
DTH: What about this event is unique?
SW: I think it’s a unique opportunity to hear stories about many of the unsung music heroes that Josh has worked with, folks like Charlie Louvin…or Ron Davies, as well as his work in the music industry and his love of music as a music collector.
DTH: What will be covered at the talk?
SW: Well, I’m planning to cover sections of the book that Josh would like to talk about and I’m also really curious about some of the stuff that isn’t in his book, you know, to learn a little bit more about his record label and how he came to start it and what his vision was for it.
