Bodhi Tree Bookstore Interview by New Age Retailer
Bodhi Tree Bookstore Interview by New Age Retailer
In a INATS (International New Age Trade Show) program on Saturday, June 25, 2006, the Bodhi Tree Bookstore was honored with an interview of Stan Madson, Co-owner of the Bodhi Tree, by Ray Hemachandra of the New Age Retailer. Co-owner Phil Thompson was not able to participate because of the graduation of his youngest son from college.
The interview was called “The Bodhi Tree Profiled”. Questions were asked about how the Bodhi Tree Bookstore started, the operating philosophy, the state of the economy, and the nature of the Bodhi Tree journey. There was an interest in the Bodhi Tree Bookstore’s success and longevity. After the formal interview of about one hour, the program was opened up to questions from the audience. The interview was recorded and eventually published in the New Age Retailer Magazine in November 2006. The following pdf of the interview is presented by permission of the New Age Retailer.
Download a pdf file of the interview.
At the start of the interview, to invoke a sense of what the community was like when the Bodhi Tree Bookstore opened (July, 1970), Stan read a poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti called Pictures of the Gone World (1955), reprinted below. Strangely enough, this poem still seems to be relevant to current times. It was a time of social unrest with the United States involved in an unpopular war and the birthing of the Beat generation, Hippies, Rock and Roll and Eastern religions. The “New Age” community emerged.
The Bodhi Tree Bookstore is well known and enjoys a reputation as one of the finest stores of the spiritual community. Many people have expressed how much the Bodhi Tree means to them and how the store has been an important factor in their spiritual life. For some, just the right book they needed fell off the shelf into their hand, just like it happened to Shirley MacLaine in the mid-80s (see Out On A Limb by Shirley MacLaine). The Bodhi Tree Bookstore would not be what it is and what it represents without the daily efforts of its conscientious, helpful, friendly, knowledgeable and dedicated staff.
INATS (International New Age Trade Show) is a yearly trade show. It has booth displays featuring several hundred gift, book and audio vendors. Some of the Bodhi Tree key suppliers such as DeVorss Publishers and New Leaf Distributing have booths. It is a place to see what new things are being offered, talk with the vendors, place orders, and to network with other bookstore people.
INATS also offers several seminars addressing issues of interest to retail stores like the Bodhi Tree.
From Pictures of the Gone World by Lawrence Ferlinghetti 1955
The World is a beautiful place
to be born into
if you don’t mind happiness
not always being
so very much fun
if you don’t mind a touch of hell
now and then
just when everything is fine
because even in heaven
they don’t sing
all the time
The world is a beautiful place
to be born into
if you don’t mind some of the people dying
all the time
or maybe only starving
some of the time
which isn’t half so bad
if it isn’t you
Oh the world is a beautiful place
to be born into
if you don’t much mind
a few dead minds
in the higher places
or a bomb or two
now and then
in your upturned faces
or such improprieties
as our Name Brand society
is prey to
with its men of distinction
and its men of extinction
and its priests
and other patrolmen
and its various segregations
and congressional investigations
and other constipations
that our fool flesh
is heir to
Yes the world is the best place of all
for a lot of such things as
making the fun scene
and making the love scene
and making the sad scene
and singing low songs and having inspirations
and walking around
looking at everything
and smelling flowers
and goosing statues
and even thinking
and kissing people and
making babies and wearing pants
and waving hats and
dancing
and going swimming in rivers
on picnics
in the middle of the summer
and just generally
‘living it up’
Yes
But then right in the middle of it
Comes the smiling
Mortician
We hope that you've enjoyed the making of the Bodhi Tree Bookstore Lectures.
Bodhi Tree Bookstore
8585 Melrose Ave.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
8585 Melrose Ave.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
