Paul Szmal: Good morning, it's 7.50, FLX Morning brought to you by Enstech Automotive and Trailer, your go-to destination for hauling and vehicle services, 2567 Edwards Road, Waterloo, online at enstechautomotive.com, and joining us are Spike Herzig and Nancy Bauder from the Foundation for the Geneva Public Library. Good morning.
Spike Herzig, Nancy Bauder: Good morning. Good morning.
Paul Szmal: It's good to have you both here. We're not here to talk about a book sale this time around, we're here to talk about one of our other favorite things, the taste of jazz, but first, before we do that, I always like to, because there's always new people coming in, to get some background on the foundation and what it does to help supplement the money that the library gets from the taxpayers.
Spike Herzig, Nancy Bauder: Yes, we formed a foundation when the library became a public library because public funds cannot be invested, and so the foundation was set up and we are the fundraising arm of the Geneva Public Library. Our major fundraiser each year is A Taste of Jazz, which is coming up Sunday. It's become very, very popular. It's been a sell-out for the last two years, and we're happy about that, though it always hurts to turn away the people we can't accommodate, so it's wise to get tickets early.
John Russo, Johnny Russo, who grew up in Geneva, brings his jazz group from Ithaca, the East Hill Jazz Ensemble, and from two to four, they play, and it's just a delight. Wegmans, it serves our refreshments, and they are delicious, of course, and this year, we have two wineries. We have the FLCC Viticulture Program, and we have Billsboro Winery, and we have a brewery for the first time. We have Whitefield Brewery, and that's going to be a little bit different, and we think that will please our guests as well.
Paul Szmal: So tell us a little bit about Johnny Russo and the East Hill Classic Jazz Band. They operate out of Ithaca these days, but like you said, he's a Geneva guy, and he's happy, I'm sure, to come up and do this.
Spike Herzig, Nancy Bauder: He's very happy to do it, and he brings with him world-class musicians. Doug Robinson plays guitar, Brian Earl, clarinet, Drew Fretch, a world-class banjo player, and this year, he's bringing London Daniels, who's a bass player, who people who know more about bass playing than I do think that he is very comparable to another Genevan, Scott LaFerro.
Paul Szmal: Wow. High praise. That is high praise indeed.
Spike Herzig, Nancy Bauder: He's also bringing a violinist this year, Rolf Sokol, and that's going to be a first. We haven't had a violinist before. One year, he did bring a soloist, but we're looking forward to the group that he's bringing this year. And it's always wonderful for John to come back, because people are so happy to see him, and he doesn't get back often, and so it's a nice day.
Paul Szmal: Go on the website, the newly named website, easier to remember, Geneva Public Library, New York, so gplny.org, look for the link for The Taste of Jazz, and I also see there that you mentioned some of the sponsors, but you did not mention yourselves as contributing to this event, so that's pretty cool.
Spike Herzig, Nancy Bauder: Well, this event means a lot to us, and so we do act as sponsors. John Cromartie is also a sponsor. Our primary sponsor is Community Bank. Lyons National Bank serves as one of our sponsors, and the Finger Lakes Federal Credit Union, so you can see what an important event it is for the foundation.
Paul Szmal: Well, and we talk to the folks from the library every month, and you have materials, which mean books and videos, and books, we used to say books on tape, now it's books on CD or DVD or MP3 or something, but also the programming. I'm just amazed when we go down the calendar every month at the variety and amount of programming that the library provides, and that's one of the things that the foundation, that extra shot of capital, can do for them.
Spike Herzig, Nancy Bauder: Yes, exactly, and we're fortunate that we have Frank Sykes as director, and Brandy Roselle in the children's room has brought the children's room alive. There's never a time that you walk through the children's room that there isn't something going on, and it's very, very important to youngsters in this community, but there are activities for people of all ages. They have a knitting group, they have a bring your own book discussion group, which is the kind of thing that would appeal to me. I spent too many years analyzing book after book after book, so I'm not terribly interested in a group where you all take apart the same book, but the bring your own book is a...
Paul Szmal: Yeah, that's really neat. And it does wonders for circulation, because... It's fun, my wife started doing that at the Rushfield Library, and I went one day and some other people recommended a couple of books, and I said, wow, and I took them out and I read them and I loved them. What a great way to share your experiences.
Spike Herzig, Nancy Bauder: Your experiences and to boost circulation in the library.
Paul Szmal: So I always like to ask, when you guys are here, how someone can become a member of the foundation and help support the library and occasionally lug heavy boxes of books from place to place.
Spike Herzig, Nancy Bauder: We're really looking for that, I'll tell you. All they have to do is contact the library, the library will then contact someone in the foundation, if it's that sort of thing, it'll probably be me, and then I'll contact them directly. That whole contact service, once they've touched the library, we'll be back to them really in the same day.
Paul Szmal: All right, the website for the library is gplny.org, look for the link, Taste of Jazz, this Sunday in the Reading Room, 2 to 4 p.m., tickets always sell out, so get some right now because you don't want to miss this, and you don't want to miss the chance to support your public library.
Always a pleasure to talk with you both, and I don't know if this will be the last time, maybe in some future venue we'll speak again, but thanks for everything you've done.
Spike Herzig, Nancy Bauder: Thank you so much for all you've done.
Paul Szmal: All right, we pray. Oh, I've got a gift, thank you so much.
It is coming up to 7.57 now, it's FLX Morning.
