nothin “Never Ending” Is Ending | New Haven Independent

Never Ending” Is Ending

The infamous Women’s Issues section, now holding a wider variety of selections.

State Street book & performance space closing doors next week.

Spirit and ingenuity have always been a large part of the beauty of the State Street space, where the scent of pizza and pasta from neighbors L’Orcio and Modern mingle with the smell of old books and the spark of creation. Back in October it was announced on Facebook that the space would be closing its doors in December — Roger Uihlein, Never Ending Books’ owner, was choosing not to renew the lease — and its books were available free or by donation. A number was listed to call if you wanted to make an appointment and grab those books. This reporter could not resist the urge to dial that number and head down to gather up a few editions and talk with Uihlein about what was happening.

But Uihlein mostly wanted to talk about books. That was the business of the day at the space, which he has run for a number of years, a number he did not want to discuss in too much detail. Never Ending Books was also widely known and beloved as a performance space to a multitude of regular and one-off shows, meetings, and collectives; those had been halted once Covid-19 put such gatherings on hold indefinitely. Since the October announcement, the focus had become how to get those books to new homes, relying mostly on word of mouth.

It’s always been a cooperative,” said Uihlein, noting that the original concept was to sell enough books to pay for the space. Now the job was to give those books away.

The infamous Women’s Issues section, now holding a wider variety of selections.

Those books are everywhere, found mostly in the one long room entered through the front door, but also often scattered through the adjacent room, the performance and gathering space, with its red curtained stage and assortment of chairs, couches, and artwork. There is even a set of shelves outside to the right of the front door that Uihlein keeps stocked, going through his inventory to keep the selection interesting to passersby. He said he often has a tough time deciding which ones to let go.

To that end, while he is hoping that everything goes, he is also keeping a selection of books for himself. These include a Metropolitan Museum of Art book from 1941 and a vintage paperback of Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller, who Uihlein said probably sent me on journey through books.”

He cited Miller’s Books of My Life as an influence, noting that the cover had the names of authors that influenced Miller on it, so Uihlein started going through those authors as well. That led to a discussion of D.H. Lawrence, one of my favorite authors, which then became a talk about what I was currently reading (Old Friend From Far Away by Natalie Goldberg) as well as my own writing and poetry, some of which I had previously performed at Never Ending Books. One of those poems, which I wrote based on the title of a book I found in the infamous Women’s Studies section of the store, rests in a frame that still sits on the windowsill towards the rear of the room, where boxes filled with books and tapes now lie where rows of chairs used to be.

Everything goes,” Uihlein said. He has already gotten rid of some books, donating a few boxes to charities, but he is hoping people stop by to find their own, hoping the books find their people, saying also that this is a great opportunity” to take a box and give them away to friends, noting that he has already had a few people do this and then let him know that it made them feel good to give them away.

It makes me feel good,” he said.

On this particular Sunday a few regulars stopped by to browse and fill a bag of their own, including Jessica Larkin-Wells, who said she grew up coming to Never Ending Books and had to stop by since she was in town. Uihlein asked her what she was reading (A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace and The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger), which once again led a discussion of writing. Larkin-Wells picked up a book called The Art of Chinese Cooking, which she said was interesting because she had just been searching cookbooks the night before.

I’m always happy to see the door open,” she said. One of my early memories are those red curtains.”

Paul Belbusti performs as part of his monthly series Mercy Choir and Friends in 2017.

Those red curtains, which have always added a certain mystery to the place — especially from the sidewalk on a dark city night, boldly framing any performer who happened to perform on that stage. According to Uihlein, they were there when he came to the shop many years ago. He had nothing but praise for the numerous performers and artists who had played and gathered there regularly.

The New Haven music scene is amazing,” he said. They are all dedicated. They are always doing it, always writing new songs, always have new CDs.”

Rebecca Scotka tells a story as part of the Wobbling Roof Review in 2016.

He also acknowledged all the people who came to watch the shows, and who came to participate in the many events that included not just those musical performances, but the open mics, drum circles, and salons.

I got to know a lot of people. I’m honored to know them,” he said. But Uihlein did not want to talk about himself. He wanted to talk about the books.

Bring your own bag. Fill it up and give them away,” he said once again.

This reporter did bring her own bag and did fill it up with books, including one about news reporting and writing (how could I not) as well as The Diary of Virginia Woolf. And even though my bag was full, two more books caught my eye before leaving, both by Joseph Campbell — one I already had but thought, perhaps, as Uihlein mentioned numerous times, I could give to a friend.

Nikolai reads Yeats in front of the brick wall.

I ended up returning two more times, the following weekend with my husband and then again last weekend, when I saw the aformentioned brick wall performance. A number of other performances had already been filmed over the past few months by David Pilot, a writer and filmmaker who has read his pieces and screened his films at the space numerous times.

According to Pilot, Uihlein had the idea to take it to the street” and have it be more of a spontaneous meeting,” with passersby possibly being witness to these two to three minute pieces.

It’s a continuation of the bookstore,” said Pilot, who also noted that the bookstore always tapped into the true spirit of New Haven. There’s a creative wellspring there, an energy that’s never ending, an opportunity to invent, to imagine, to make things without the pressure of commerce and critique.” Pilot has gathered the filmed pieces and plans on posting them online eventually on a YouTube channel, but he also feels this end is not quite the end.

I’ve met people here who challenged me, and I still work with,” he said. Of course Never Ending will never end. It’s been named. How can it end?” He likened it to the city itself. You often live up to what your name is about, like New Haven. It’s a place for the birth of new things, and it’s not just a place for it, it’s a haven for it.”

Carl Testa — a local musician and teacher who ran the monthly Uncertainty Music Series at Never Ending Books for 10 years — spoke similarly about the space being a place of transformation and growth.

What an incredible gift it was for me to have this space to rely on for years to have a concert,” he said. To have a goal to work on something new, to invite someone to present, and how rare that is, how rare right now in this moment.”

Grant Beale, Bob Gorry, Jeff Cedrone, and Uncertainty Music Series Benefit show from 2017.

He wondered how others would proceed, not only in this current climate, but post-Covid as well, in person or virtually.

I was 23 when I started it,” he said of the Uncertainty Music Series. How does someone in their early 20s right now have a venue to present their work or do something on their own terms? How can we provide similar opportunities?”

He did note that right now it still feels like there is a lot of local energy and connections” and added that it might be worth considering what Never Ending provided as a physical space and thinking about how we can maintain some aspect of that in the digital space.”

And there was still the matter of the books, the records, the tapes: the physical manifestations of the artistic wellspring of creation. Last weekend there was much less of everything, but still more than enough to peruse and choose from while reminiscing about the multitude of poetry readings, open mics, musical series, spontaneous readings — even the origins of that aptly chosen name.

Frank Panzarella.

Musician Frank Panzarella, part of the collective that helped open the bookstore and a friend of Uihlein’s for three decades, happened to be one of the people browsing on this day and, come to find out, he’s the one who gave the space its name.

It took a three-hour meeting to get the name,” he said. It started as a joke, and then everybody liked it.”

According to Panzarella, the collective was trying to come up with a name for the store, and, having recently watched the movie The Neverending Story, he was joking around and said hey, how about the Never Ending Bookstore?” 

Uihlein and Panzarella laughed recalling this as Panzarella gathered an armful of albums, most notably the iconic The Velvet Underground with Nico as well as ones by Jimi Hendrix and Fats Waller.

I don’t collect records. I listen to them,” Panzarella said. He also found a book of Neil Young lyrics and ended up in a discussion with Uihlein about past performances, and what the future held for live music, the art scene in general, and the books, of course.

The books are always there,” said Uihlein. Those never end.”

And of all the things that the space provided, it seems the simple pleasure of meeting and exchanging ideas with other like-minded individuals who encourage each other to persevere is what will be remembered the most.

Keep going,” said Uihlein. Keep making art.”

Uihlein said he will be at the bookstore for the next two weekends, Saturday and Sunday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., if anyone wants to come by and take some books and/or film their own brick wall video. Inquires can also be made at (203) 865‑6507.

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