Dale Cockrell

The cover caught me. It's so energetic! I saw it on the New Arrivals shelf, and though I'd never really thought about the topic before, I couldn't pass it up. (One of the great things about libraries!)

I learned so much from Everybody's Doin' It, some familiar, some clarifying murky impressions, and plenty new. It traces the history of music halls in NYC, the music and dancing done there, and who attended them. A lot is via legal citations and laws, but also news articles and published show more music.

At the time, I found it interesting, but not a particularly stand-out book to tell everyone about. Five years later, however, and I'm realizing there is so much knowledge that I'm using from it to inform my understanding of other popular culture things from the period.

It was really very rewarding, but it took me a while to recognize how much so.

I think I would like to see a Black historian's perspective on some of the topics, especially minstrelsy and blackface. And I'd be very interested in a comparison to other major cities, though Cockrell is very clear that the scope is huge, is why he limits it.

But mostly, I appreciate my library for showing me this book, and I think it's worth reading (or skimming!) for folks interested in related history, even if not music itself. show less

Being a delve into the world of lowlife NYC during the nineteenth century and the Ragtime Er.a, with emphases on its musical life and carnality. The author has done his work in the archives; I've been reading everything I could in this area for at least a quarter-century, and he was fleshing out my knowledge in a lot of important areas whilst entertaining me. I was a little less interested in, or convinced by, his attempts to quantify the number of sex workers and musicians working show more professionally in the city at given times on the basis of some rather speculative sources, but for researchers his numbers will be useful. It's a great look into a corner of Victoriana which doesn't make the history books that often. show less