Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 3/7 - Keys

This morning on his show on WOR-AM in NYC Mark Simone referred to Francis Scott Key as the first one-hit wonder. As my laughter subsided I wondered if this were actually true. 2014 marks the 200th anniversary of The Star Spangled Banner. When I was young and swayed by liberal sentiments, I found our national anthem lacking and war-mongerish. These days it frequently sends chills down my spine -- except when I tap it out on the guitar in my inimitable pedestrian way. Anyway, back to Mr. Key, who was a devout Christian. Two of his other poems were adapted into hymns: Before the Lord We Bow & Lord, with Glowing Heart I'd Praise Thee. I'm not familiar with either. He also had a book published: The Power of Literature, and Its Connection with Religion, so he wasn't exactly a one-hit wonder. He was, however, a slave owner and vehemently opposed to abolition. A lawyer, he made this statement at the end of a trial: "Are you willing, gentlemen, to abandon your country, to permit it to be taken from you, and occupied by the abolitionist, according to whose taste it is to associate and amalgamate with the negro? Or, gentlemen, on the other hand, are there laws in this community to defend you from the immediate abolitionist, who would open upon you the floodgates of such extensive wickedness and mischief?" Here's another interesting tidbit -- literary giant F. Scott Fitzgerald was a distant cousin. (Facts culled from Wiki)

The temperature climbed significantly today, but because its was cloudy and there was a strong wind it felt even colder than yesterday. The key to the session was securing the most favorable parking spot. If I hadn't, I would have bailed a lot earlier, with only one book sale to show for the madness. In the last ten minutes I sold nine others, topped off by James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans and Nathanial Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, purchased by a young man in the company of a pretty girl. I'm sure she was impressed. Thanks, folks. Those Russian books really save the day.
Vic's 4th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Horror Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp
Vic’s Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx