This is New Wisco Weekend, I'm Lisa Hale.
Do you remember the last time you wandered around a bookstore?
One woman loved this idea so much, she bought the store.
Again, here's Terry Barr who talked with Molly Fish to learn more about her love of reading books.
And as it turns out, she loves to write songs, too. Let's take a listen.
I won't disappear when I'm out to defeat you, Sarah.
Write a bomb now that you're thinking you can write me off.
Bear a cage of pride and let's see if you can fight me off.
Don't forget the message we don't want to walk through.
I'm sorry, sir. I want this to be when I'm out to defeat you, sir.
This song we are listening to is Stay Down.
This is by the Civil Engineers and lead singer Molly Fish.
Wow, Molly has quite the unique story to share with us.
First of all, thanks for being here, Molly.
Hi, Terry, always great to talk to you.
We will get into your unique story in just a second, but first,
what can you tell me about Stay Down?
Well, this song was written primarily by Kyle Rightley, a fabulous local musician and our guitar player in Civil Engineers.
And he had a couple of lyrics he liked, but then he left the rest of it up to me.
I decided to make this song about a woman fighting to get to the top.
And she's being told to stay down.
And so she starts telling everybody else, you better stay down.
It's funny because it leads perfectly into what we're going to be talking about now.
You opened a bookstore, so here we're talking about writing and reading.
Why was this a dream of yours?
I have always loved books and reading, but I would either be sitting and reading, and you can't talk to me,
or I would be like onstage, you know, showman, singing, performing.
Those were like my two vibes.
I had always dreamed of owning a bookstore as I became involved in small businesses.
I worked at a lot of bookstores, and it was just kind of like a pipe dream.
But you know, the pandemic changed a lot of things for a lot of people.
And it changed how we thought about our lives and what we do every day.
Really realized I want to love what I do every single day.
I opened like city books in April of 2023.
It honestly surpassed my wildest dreams.
There is a recent survey that shows print books are making a comeback.
What are you seeing in your store, Molly?
Here is what is happening.
We are on our screens so often.
We work on our screens, students and young people study and learn on their screens.
So if you want to read a book, it's like how records came back,
except books are even more resilient as a medium,
and as a thing that people love and want to keep, and want to collect.
Like the item itself has become something, even among young women,
I think is like one of the biggest trends, and which is so exciting to me.
They're, you know, they're reading romance books just unapologetically.
They're reading fantasy and getting into, you know, like dragons and talking about books on TikTok and social media.
And the fact that that's the thing that a lot of young people are talking about is incredible.
And I always try to encourage that.
I'm like, I don't care what you're reading.
If you're reading romance, that's great.
Get in the habit of reading.
Have books in your life.
I am talking with Molly Fish, fabulous musician and owner of Lake City Books.
Do you have any personal reading goals that you're trying to meet right now?
And it sounds like you read a lot of the books that are in your bookstore.
I try to read very diversely, specifically so that I can recommend things to a wide variety of people.
So my goal is always 52 books a year.
I need to read at least one book a week.
I've already hit 52 for this year.
Oh, wow.
Now everything is just gravy.
We are going to end this with the song Strawberry Waffles.
Tell us about this one, Molly.
It's like a little revenge story.
So the chorus is, my mama told me that I had a taste for blood.
When they let me write the lyrics and the vocals, sometimes that's just what comes out.
Molly Fish, she is a reader.
She is a bookstore owner.
She's a writer and a musician.
So let's take a listen to Strawberry Waffles.
Molly Fish, thanks so much.
Thank you, Terry.
When I was a young girl,
I never had to worry about the world.
If I saw something sweet, then I'd take it.
I knew that I'd love this to meet her.
My mama told me I had a taste for blood.
Now my boyfriend, he's pretty handy.
I'm chilling right up with that skate pitch, Strawberry.
Granted clock, took a shot, and he tried.
Brandy knew what happened to the cold cops.
My mama told me I had a taste for blood.
I'm chilling right up with that skate pitch, Strawberry.
Blood sugar, good sugar, dripping out of your skull.
Dipping out of your skull, out of your side of your skull.
Thank you for being a part of New Wiscal Weekend.
New Wiscal Weekend is produced and written by Terry Barr and Lisa Hale.
Our executive producer is Todd Michaels, directed by Lisa Hale.
Our lead correspondent is Terry Barr, with features by Conrad Krieger, Brittany Merlot, Melissa Kay, Peach Schwabba, and Commentary by Amanda Nimmer.
This week's issue featured appearances by Jim Schmidt, John Mino, and Seth Habhager.
For comments and suggestions, email Lisa.hale at civicmedia.us or text us through the Civic Media app.
I'm Civic Media Northeast Wisconsin Bureau Chief Lisa Hale for WISS and WGBW News.
The Unstoppable.
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