Mark Sullivan wrote:
> "The current hardboiled music thread started when
David White suggested
> that it would be nice if certain recent
music-saturated novels could be
> released with CDs containing songs mentioned in the
text. I'm in the
> middle of a book that would be a prime candidate for
this approach,
> Crossroad Blues by Ace Atkins.......
>
> The main character, Nick Travers, is a "tracker" of
old bluesmen, their
> songs, stories and legends. This particular book
revolves around
> various people searching for rumored recordings from
a previously
> unknown recording session by blues giant Robert
Johnson....."
> Dear Mark,
>
> I really enjoyed your full posting and think David
White's idea of books
> published with an included Music CD would be even
more wonderful if the
> music on the CD included previously unreleased
material and was integral to
> the mystery---or, if ithe book was one of those
novelizations of
> blockbuster movies that happened to have a great
sound track. The
> record/movie conglomerates (Warners/Sony/Geffen)
will eventually figure
> this out.
>
> In re Robert Johnson, there's a very good DVD
biographical film out by
> Peter Meyer (Can't You Hear The Wind Howl/WinStar)
that would make a great
> "outlaw" novel, ripe for the inclusion of a CD, not
only of music, but of
> reminsicences.
>
> Johnson's life as revealed in this film has much of
the hard boiled glamour
> of the subterranean memoires mentioned recently in
the discussions of
> Burroughs' William Lee writings and of the
on-the-road, hobo-criminal
> romance of Jack Black's You Can't Win.
>
> ICEBERG SLIM: I'd like to offer up the work of
Iceberg Slim for
> consideration in the Burroughs/Jack Black criminal
memoir discussion that
> started a day or so ago. He writes compelling and
convincing novels as an
> outlaw, pimp, drug dealing autobiographer. He has
been self-publishing at
> least thirty years now, and I consider him the
greatest passed over black
> writer of the last century. With all due respect to
Chester Himes, who
> finally received recognition (and material success),
Iceberg Slim is--in my
> opinion--in the same outlaw-reporter class , as the
autobiographical
> writings of Burroughs and Malcom X.
>
> Iceberg Slim has been ignored, I think, because his
earlier work was sold
> as and presented along with pornography (the pimp
saga); he's never had a
> mass market publisher (to my knowledge), and his
moral stance is often
> ambiguous....not exactly "to live outside the law
you must be honest."
>
> Which suggests to me that some of Dylan's music,
although lyrical,
> hallucinatory, and romantic, contains hard boiled
argot, outlaw themes, and
> a tough guy, put-you-down attitude worthy for
consideration in the hard
> boiled music discussion that has been going around
recently.
Keith
keithdeutsch@earthlink.net
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