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."

Lisztomania

Forgot how much I used to love this song...all those white folks from two years ago come to mind since this song and 1901 were their favorite songs to play, in addition to Crown on the Ground by Sleigh Bells. "So sentimental..."

I guess "1901" is good too...

Your Heart Belongs to Me

 
Early Supremes, with laidback, Latin rhythm. Diana may not have had the best voice in The Supremes, she was definitely the best singer.

Just a Closer Walk With Thee

Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.
I am weak, but Thou art strong,
Jesus, keep me from all wrong,
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.
Through this world of toil and snares,
If I falter, Lord, who cares?
Who with me my burden shares?
None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.
When my feeble life is o’er,
Time for me will be no more,
Guide me gently, safely o’er
To Thy kingdom's shore, to Thy shore

One of my favorite gospel songs, of unknown Southern African-American origins, is "Just a Closer Walk With Thee." The beautiful, simple melody and its long history in the black gospel and jazz traditions make it an obvious favorite by someone like me. I especially like Sister Rosetta Tharpe's bluesy rendition, recorded in 1941.

Grant Green recorded a jazz version of the tune for an album of spirituals, Feelin' the Spirit. Featuring Green on guitar and Herbie Hancock, as well as drummer Billy Higgins, their instrumental version of one of gospel's greatest tunes is success. Hancock does not solo as much as Green, but the clean guitar sound works well with the song's simple melody. It's always a pleasure to hear jazz musicians play spirituals or gospel music, especially when some of the best jazz songs are really gospel numbers.

Mahalia Jackson sings the song very well in this video. "Daily walking close to Thee, oh, let it be, dear Lord, let it be."

Here's a good gospel version by the Five Blind Boys of Alabama

Here's a scene from a show I should be watching, Treme, that shows a New Orleans jazz funeral with the melody of "Just a Closer Walk With Thee"

Anti-Black Racism in post-Gaddafi Libya

http://www.theroot.com/views/your-take-tortuous-racism-alive-post-qaddafi-libya

A liberal muslim homosexual ACLU lawyer professor and abortion doctor

I first heard about this last week, but only read the actual story online last night at a friend's house. Everything about it is funny, and its an excellent parody of conservatives in this country. Smirking "Jewishly" is one of the highlights.

http://toosiblog.tumblr.com/post/12856396341/a-liberal-muslim-homosexual-aclu-lawyer-professor

Review of Mary Lou Williams Event

"The Recordings of Mary Lou Williams: A 50-Year Retrospective"

Father Peter O'Brien's presentation was very entertaining, though I came 20 minutes late. 

It appears to have started with a short documentary that provided a general overview of her life. 

Then the rest of the presentation  consisted of various pictures and music recordings throughout her career, beginning with Andy Kirk's band and 1929 to the early 1930s recordings. I really enjoyed the earlier swing and Kansas City-style sides. I also loved her rendition of "Tea for Two" and some of her later arrangements for Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie, especially "Trumpet Madness" and "In the Land of Oo Bla Dee." Due to Father O'Brien's often talking a little too much, he had to rush the rest of the presentation and skip about 4 songs in order to play parts of her Zodiac Suite and her Jazz Mass, which included a jazzy version of Gloria that had the crowd rocking. Unfortunately, the video was shown on a rather small projector in the church but it was worth just to hear a man who worked with Mary LouWilliams so closely reflect on her career and jazz history.

However, one must wish the event had started earlier so that Father O'Brien would have had more time to share stories, reminisce, recollect, and show the rest of the video parts that were skipped. However, the pictures were fascinating and contained a lot of personal information about her life, such as her love for shoes, nice blouses, important people in her life, and the influence of Catholicism on her music. The bluesy elements of her Kansas-style were still present in parts of her Zodiac Suite, which was rich in heavy bass lines.

Saturday Night Concert at The Overture Review

Well, the concert was fun but I didn't enjoy the vocalist and the poet. They also started late. Instead of letting the band perform at 7:30, Father O'Brien and a few other speakers had to talk for 30 minutes. The first half of the set was just songs from Mary Lou Williams' Zodiac Suite. I hadn't heard most of it before, so it was new and interesting. 10 of the songs were written for a trio and the final two pieces were solo piano songs. However, it bothered me that Gerri Allen and the bassist Davis had sheet music for all of the first set and parts of the second set. Don't you think jazz musicians should have all the music memorized? I also thought the drummer Kossa Overall was great. He may not be the best drummer in the world, but he is young, has an afro, and played a great solo in the second set that had me groovin' and swingin'. The poet, Fabu, on the other hand, was terrible. She was out of place, her poetry was unnecessary, and trite. She didn't have anything new to say about Mary Lou's life and what she did say was superficial. She endeavored to imbue her poetry with that stereotypical pretentious artsy atmosphere which is just unbearable. Carmen Lundy, the vocalist, has an interesting voice but I would not go out of my way to listen to her recordings. She only sang 2 or 3 songs, and then left the stage. It was obvious that they had practiced together though, because during those 2-3 songs, the combo were synchronized. As for the bassist, his solos were interesting and just lovely to hear.