Labuchin on Alexis

 

 

Interested in this segment of Rassoul Labuchin's memories of Jacques-Stephen Alexis. In this extrait, he discusses the Taino and the Amerindian past of the island. Although I personally believe Alexis exaggerated their cultural legacy in today's Haitians, it is interesting nonetheless. Particularly interesting in relation to the character of Gonaibo in Alexis's famous novel.

Sun Ra Interview

Here is a fascinating interview with Sun Ra. He discusses his worldview, the need for the development of ethnic structures, and the role of music. When you listen to him in this context, Sun Ra sounds like a mildly kooky cross of J.A. Rogers, Booker T. Washington, Elijah Muhammad, and black nationalist truthsayer. 

Bill Evans in 1970

Lovely and short video of Bill Evans live with Eddie Gomez and Morell. Gomez's style has really grown on me. He's no Scott LaFaro, but he has a thick sound with its own rich sense of melody. Hearing Bill respond to questions is always a pleasure, too. Jazz as an intellectual process, indeed! 

Bill Evans on Scott LaFaro

 

Enjoy a fascinating interview with Bill Evans about Scott LaFaro. LaFaro was the perfect bassist to accompany Bill Evans, no offense directed to Eddie Gomez.  Scott was melodic, intuitive, independent-minded, and perhaps my favorite jazz bassist in a trio context. As Evans says in this interview, it's difficult to explain LaFaro's playing, but one must experience the "ride."

Carlin on Charlie Rose

Enjoy an interesting and too brief interview from 1996. George Carlin is one of American comedy's greats, and here he articulates some rather fascinating influences and how his comedy shifted in the 1990s and 2000s. While one may take issue with his detachment from the outcome of our current 'experiment,' Carlin's probably right in how he traces the roots of comedians and attests to their importance.

The Lathe of Heaven

Bill Moyers interviews Ursula K. Le Guin about the film adaptation of her excellent (and phildickian) novel, The Lathe of Heaven. What I love about her work is it exemplifies how Le Guin and Philip K. Dick shaped each other's work, in addition to their correspondence. Indeed, I am still amazed that these two titans of SF went to the same high school and supposedly never crossed paths. Both also allude to The Beatles in powerful ways for their novels, particularly John Lennon in Dick's The Transmigration of Timothy Archer. As for the novel, it's an entertaining read on ethics, dreams, metaphysics, and even climate change, race, power, and gender. Like the old saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, as Haber's character illustrates in his twisted use of Orr's power. 

The Impressions, Curtis Mayfield, and Music

I came upon an interview with the two surviving original members of the legendary soul vocal group, The Impressions. The following are some highlights of the interview that I thought reveal important background knowledge and context for the group (the interview's first part can be accessed here).

1. Okay, so you're all probably wondering how the group got the name, The Impressions. Originally, it was The Roosters, since most of the R&B/doo wop vocal groups of the 1950s named themselves after birds in that era. However, after their first record came out, they were told their name didn't match the song, so they pulled names out of a hat!

2. Jerry Butler brought in Curtis Mayfield into The Impressions, since he knew Mayfield was a good guitarist and sang top tenor, two needed positions for the group.

3. A nephew of one of the vocalists, Sam Gooden, became a part of the band for The Impressions after a freak accident that killed all of their band. Gooden pulled his nephew into the group afterwards, since Lucky Scott was familiar with their music and a versatile player. Lucky would later go join Curtis Mayfield's solo band after he quit The Impressions. His bass was essential to the rhythms of Mayfield's Superfly.

4. Gooden considers Mayfield's music to be relevant to the future and criticizes the way people began trying to give him all kinds of awards after his accident in the 1990s when he had been working on great music his entire life.

5. "Move On Up" was originally supposed to be on an Impressions album (sans Mayfield, presumably) but Mayfield recorded himself for his solo career. Gooden considers it a 'together' song that brings people together through call and response, as well as an uplifting song with religious overtones.

6. "People Get Ready" is a spiritual, which is no surprise, really. Gooden looks at the lyric "a train is a-comin'" as a reference to the coming of Christ, which is definitely part of the song's message given Mayfield's gospel background. The "diesel humming" in the song's lyrics could refer to angels singing, the train picking up customers from coast to coast without baggage also sounds like a reference to the coming of Christ or the end of the world. Of course, the interviewer and Gooden concur on the song's relevance to the social climate of the 1960s, particularly the Civil Rights Movement. Like all great music, it speaks to multiple audiences on various levels.

7. Gooden and the rest of The Impressions were aware of their big influence in Jamaica. They met Bob Marley and The Wailers in Jamaica, performing their as early as 1961. Gooden also believes that Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" was inspired by Mayfield's "I Gotta Keep on Moving" due to similar content (Marley would also cover "I Gotta Keep On Moving," too). Gooden naturally alluded to the "People Get Ready" influence on Marley's "One Love" as well. The interviewer and Gooden also seem to agree on the influence of Mayfield's "Move On Up" on Marley's "Exodus."

I am eternally grateful to Beldon Blues Point. Interviews with musicians have always fascinated me and the whole world knows by now I love me some Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions. Matter of fact, here is a playlist I made of them and other Chicago soul acts influenced by Mayfield or featuring songs written or produced by him. Next I gotta read some books about Curtis Mayfield.

Author Walter Mosley on Writing Mystery Novels, Political Revelation, Racism and Pushing Obama

Author Walter Mosley on Writing Mystery Novels, Political Revelation, Racism and Pushing Obama

Walter Mosley discusses race, society, literature, and politics. He also reveals some obvious truths I should have ascertained already about his life. For example, Easy Rawlins, Mosley's first detective character, represents his father's generation as a black man from the Deep South moving to the North or West (in this case, Los Angeles). Moreover, Mosley is biracial, half white (Jewish mother) and half black! I had never picked up on that in his novels that I have read (Devil in a Blue Dress, A Long Fall, Known to Evil). His detective fiction is some of the best with black protagonists that I have read, surpassing Chester Himes and Rudolph Fisher, author of the A Conjure Man Dies, the first black detective story.

In this interview, Mosley discusses how everyone is mixed-race in America, but nobody talks about it since people continue to define race based on external physical features rather than the long history of racial miscegenation that reveals how more people than one is willing to admit have mixed heritage. Mosley also discusses his own problems with capitalism, alcoholism in his past (that theme does appear in his mystery novels), dishonesty in politics and the War on Terror and his own father's background. His father, from southern Louisiana, essentially raised himself from an early age and served in World War II. His father did not want to go to war, because his father never thought of himself as American in this conflict between Germans and the United States. The very idea of seeing himself as "American" only came from being shot at by Germans while fighting in a segregated unit. In addition, Easy Rawlins, working as a janitor at a school in Los Angeles, was inspired by his own father's experiences as a janitor in LA.

1950s Los Angeles, from a racial point of view, was only colored (black and Latino) and whites. Interracial solidarity among non-whites seemed to have been stronger, according to Mosley from his own experiences. Working-class people of color were thrown together due to the jobs available then. Moreover, Mosley's experiences during the Watts Riots in 1965 are also interesting, since his own father wanted to join in the destruction, but couldn't because he knew it was morally wrong. Mosley also discusses how the urban riots that exploded across black communities in the 1960s represented a shift in the mainstream civil rights movement due to black anger.

The origins of Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, featuring Socrates, a natural black philosopher lacking formal education, began with assertions Mosley faced from whites about blacks not being intelligent. I read portions of Always Outnumbered for an American literature course sophomore year in high school, but foolishly did not complete the novel.


His reasoning for choosing mystery novels as his vehicle for self-expression also reveals how insane capitalist distribution of literature is. His first novel, featuring Mouse and Easy Rawlins, was not published because the companies said white folks don't read about blacks, black women don't like black men, and black men don't read! Then Mosley wrote another story with Easy and Mouse, Devil in a Blue Dress, which became a huge success after publication. So Mosley decided to keep writing mystery novels because of their universality, which means that the publishing companies will support him. As Mosley concludes, we live in an oligarchy ruled by corporations because folks aren't pushing. Y'all gotta keep on pushing to get what you want out of this country.

It also becomes obvious why Mosley's newest sleuth, Leonid McGill, had a Communist father. His mother was a communist from New York, which definitely influenced Mosley's own feelings about capitalism and politics.

Great quote from Devil in a Blue Dress:  "Nigger can't pull his way out of the swamp wit'out no help, Easy. You wanna hold on to his house and get some money and have some white girls callin' on the phone? Alright. That's alright. But Easy, you gotta have somebody at yo' back, man. That's just a lie them white men give 'bout makin' it they own. They always got they backs covered."