Tuesday 26 November 2013

Gone Fishin'......

by Walter Mosley.
I'm interested in the south of the US, the appalachian, the bayous, the cajun music. I know the south is full of rednecks, but Im still fascinated. It is because some of my favorite music is recorded in the south of the US. It is old stuff, some of it recorded in the thirties and forties. (The Lomax Family did most of the job). A song sung by a young black boy on a plantation, a cowboy singing about the girl he loves and a gospel choir from the Georgian Islands (of the coast of Georgia)clapping wonderful rythms. Still one of my all time favorite songs is It just suits me sung by Bessie Jones and played by Hobart Smith. It's africa you hear, and europe, blended wonderfully together. (and you hear what is about to become rock 'n roll and funk)

The book Gone Fishin' is set in the deep south in, (i think), the thirties. The main character, Easy Rawlins is slowly taking charge of his life, while we read about him and his best friend Mouse. I could picture the dirt roads, the bayous, the voodoo. The rich white lady that owns all the land, her oil lamp lit porch, the suit of her uncle. The rambles shack houses where the poor black men drink moonshine, play cards and end their evening in a drunk mens fight. I could hear the dogs holler and cry. I know my view on the south is far from realistic. But isn't great that music, books, art, just creates a whole new world in its self? And the real south? I will go there one day. Buy an old pick up, find myself a dog, travel and talk to people. Something is pulling me to that side of the world and one day I have to go see for myself what it is like. (and in the meantime I have many more Mosleys book to read)

Here is a link to an amazing song, recorded in the late fifties, Bessie Jones, Hobarth Smith and several more. If you are interested in this kind of music, drop me a line. I would be more than happy to send you some.

Friday 22 November 2013

Fordlandia.....


by Greg Grandin. A wonderful non-fiction book about Henry Ford and the plantation he started in the Amazon in 1927. A book about America, capitalism, consumerism, unions, New Deal, cleanliness, war, and about the untameable Amazon. (and soy beans....) I loved the book, Henry Ford is complex, difficult man, a genius and a very stupid man in one. And the writer, he wrote a non-fiction book that reads like an exciting novel. And wow! how some of the decisions made by one man in the twenties still effect us today.

Wednesday 13 November 2013

A marriage plot by......


Jeffrey Eugenides. The drawing is a lot darker than the book is. In fact, I loved the book. Personally I could relate to almost everything in the book and the book gave me deeper understanding of what depression feels like and what it means to some one. ( a true depression, not being moody for a day) Other books by Jeffrey Eugenides are Middlesex (recommended by Oprah, and also by me) and the Virgin Suicides, that most of you know from the movie I suppose. That's it for today, these are all my words; the drawing has to do the real work today.

Hope you had a lovely day. I did.

Saturday 2 November 2013

Today's Trouw


IM so happy with the work I do, the coffee I drink whilst working, the music Radio Paradise brings into my beautiful home sweet home, and mingles with my creative energy. A really nice job for Trouw last week. Happy with the result, wish you all a good weekend.