pickWith The Weary Blues, Hughes reminds us that human thought is poetry; it just takes a certain skill or instinct to harness it.
Coming away from this I was amazed by how much joy and love for life there is. Despite all the hurdles for a Black artist, for Black people, in the first half of the 19th century, he seemed totally enthralled with life.
Also that cover! Is that not one of the most iconic pictures? I‘d love to have a reprint on my wall.
pickI neglected to review this after finishing it and it‘s not fresh in my mind. This landed on my radar thanks to #AuldLangSpine from @IndoorDame
This is a biting takedown of cultural appropriation—specifically two music hipsters who use street recordings of black musicians to mashup a new/fake “old” “undiscovered” work from a black jazz musician from decades ago. Things get [spoiler — in comments].
I was a bit confused at the ending but wow!
so-soMark Murphy points out that “Billie Holiday always gave the emotional value that the songwriter had intended. That is why so many songwriters enjoy hearing her.” (Listen to: Strange Fruit & All of Me). This misses that Holiday could have been a hell of a song writer herself. The sentences she write and the phrases she turns in this autobiography show the world as it is, with a nod to it not being how it ought to be. Each line could be a song.
pickWell, this took a turn didn‘t it? A seemingly straightforward story about two music obsessed friends twists into a fever dream about cultural appropriation halfway through. Unsettling and challenging , this kept me on my toes. #24in2024
