"Reading and music activate the same part of your brain" -- Verbatim Books' Justine Epstein

On this week's episode, the SoundDiego Podcast welcomes Justine Epstein, the owner of North Park's Verbatim Books. Since opening in 2015, Verbatim has become a go-to destination for bookworms from both San Diego and out of town, as well as local authors and musicians who frequently stop in for very special in-store performances. At the time of this episode's publishing, Verbatim is still closed due to the pandemic, but will be reopening when the government makes it clear that it's safe to do so. Until you can stop in personally, head over to Verbatim-Books.com, and keep up-to-date with everything happening with the shop.

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Episode 13 Show Notes:

We wish we could peruse the multitude of shelves at Verbatim Books and soak in the sounds from the shop's 75-hour Spotify playlist but until they open back up, listen to it here.Justine may not be totally sold on Bruce Springsteen, but after learning he wrote the music for Patti Smith's huge single "Because the Night," she might be changing her tune on "The Boss." Check it out for yourself.Do yourself and broaden your literary horizons with a couple of our favorite local musicians-turned-authors, the Casbah's Ben Johnson (check out his books here) and Bit Maps' Drew Andrews (check out his work here).Justine's first album purchase (and one of Dustin's all-time favorite records) was the Smashing Pumpkins' "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" — here's a great look back on the epic 1995 double album's legacy by Rolling Stone and Billy Corgan.Wanna read Carrie Brownstein's interview with Eddie Vedder for The Believer? Knock yourself out at this link.This episode's Spotlight song of the week is the San Diego Music Award-winning singer-songwriter John Meeks and his song "Jungle Kook." Head over to his Bandcamp page to buy some music or merch, and support him in these difficult times. Also, be sure to follow him on Facebook.

Join us for a new episode of the SoundDiego Podcast every Saturday morning. Upcoming guests on the pod include the B-Side Players' Karlos Paez, San Diego mashup star Elise Trouw, Nine Inch Nails' Ilan Rubin, Voice of San Diego's Scott Lewis and the mayor of local music, 91x's Tim Pyles! Thanks for listening, and until next time, enjoy the music.

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The SoundDiego Podcast is executive-produced by Eric S. Page, and hosted/edited by Dustin Lothspeich (reach him here).

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