#704 Cold- John Keene

#704 Cold- John Keene

You have to know a little about American Music history to get the full meaning of this one. This piece is a tribute to a great and tragic musician around the turn of the 19^th century. 

Bob Cole was a composer/songwriter/entertainer with much success, having written and published a couple hundred songs. His music was known to the general public but outside of the black communities he would not have been as recognized physically or by name as well as he should have been. He and his partners, brothers James Weldon and J. Rosamund Johnson wrote minstrel music, some of which has been used to perpetuate negative black stereotypes. After gaining success and creating his own black production company, he used his position to change the entertainment industry, trying to stop the use these stereotypes, of black characters as villainous or aggressive. 

He killed himself in 1911 while staying at a Hotel in the Catskills. The “Cold” of the title represents the creek water in which he drowned himself. This story is the last day of his life. We see his embarrassment at having to change rooms because a white guest requests it, we see his mental anguish at realizing some negative messages in his own songs, and we see the torture of his songs haunting him as they fight to be let loose.

“Then somewhere along the way after the first terrible blues struck you tried to hum a new tune, conjure one, you thought it was just exhaustion, your mind too tired to refresh itself as it always had, that’s why the old ones wouldn’t go away.”

Fantastic story. I love both the music and the history here, and the artistic manner in which Keene delivers a lecture on both.  It’s a shame that Cole’s memory is lost to most people, but I am grateful to Keene for reviving the name in such a meaningful way.  Knowing the reference helps, but even without it, this story stands as masterful.

Notable Passage: “I’m coming until the music breaks into a screaming silence that if you could describe it in a word would be no word or no note or sound at all but fleetingly, fleetingly cold…”

Rating: 10-10-10-10 Total= 40

#226 Thawing Out- T.C. Boyle

#226 Thawing Out- T.C. Boyle

Marty is 24 and in the beginnings of a serious relationship with Naina. As it gets more serious, he gets more cold on the subject. He takes a solo vacation that turns out to be a five month long weekend, losing his job, and his girlfriend in the process. Afraid of adulthood and a long term commitment, Marty struggles with adulthood.

The setting and theme is cold water. Naina’s family is Ukrainian and they have an affinity for cold water. Their Polar Bear Club takes a ceremonial frigid dip into the Hudson each winter solstice to reaffirm their lives and virility. Marty needs to take the plunge to rid himself of his selfish adolescent ways.

The plunge has to be voluntary. The accidental fall into freezing water he took in Canada was due to miscommunication, and thus ended in disaster. The real plunge must be embraced, and done on faith; that one will be as warm as bath water.

Rating: 8-8-8-7 Total= 31

#202 Vanka- Anton Chekhov

#202 Vanka- Anton Chekhov

A beautiful but heartbreaking story. A young child, and apprentice to a shoemaker is writing his grandfather on Christmas eve. This is his only living relative and he needs to be rescued.

“Come dear grandpa…by Christ God I beg you, take me away from here. Have pity on me, a wretched orphan, because everybody beats me, and I’m so hungry, and it’s so dreary I can’t tell you, I just cry all the time…My life is going worse that any dog’s…dear grandpa, come.”

He writes in secret and worries about being discovered, he cant run away because he has no shoes. He finishes and braves the cold in just a shirt to mail his letter. He learned last week that to send a letter you must address it and drop it in a mail box. He dutifully writes on the envelope:

“To Granpa in the Village” drops it in, and waits to be saved.

Rating: 8-7-8-7 Total= 30