#732 Blues- John Keene

#732 Blues- John Keene

As with all the stories found in John Keene’s excellent collection Counternarratives, "Blues"challenges the reader with an interesting and off-beat format. The narration is fed to us one sentence at a time separated by ellipses. I’m not sure how it effected other readers, but for my experience I found myself speeding up as I read, making the story more and more frantic as I went. This was made even more so on the last page as the sentences gave way to smaller phrases and single words.

This is the world through the eyes of a traveler, a lover of the arts, perhaps an artist him (her) self. The teller of the story jumps from city to city, enjoying the sites and the history as he goes. There is some pretention, at times a lot of it as he references artists and poets often just by first name in a manner than seems more like name dropping than homage.

The last lines mention solitude and the blues, but there is a definite sadness among the excitement felt throughout the running script. 

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

#529 Mississippi Ham Rider- Toni Cade Bambara

#529 Mississippi Ham Rider- Toni Cade Bambara

Mississippi Ham Rider is an old southern bluesman, long forgotten by most of the world. Record executives from New York have come calling to bring him north to record some of his songs. They are trying to revive some of this old music for a collection, included in the records are the old blues stories:

“The payoffs, the bribes, bargains and deals, interviews in jail cells, drug wards, wino bins.” (seems like these could all be names of bands...Ha!)

Ham Rider is quite a character: “He’s quite a sketch—jackboots, the original War-one bespoke overcoat, razor scar, gravel voice and a personality to match.”

There is a cultural divide here. White-Black, Rich-Poor, Old-New, North-South—the oldies, but goodies. Trying to hold on to the past in modern terms always seems false:

“Ole Ham Rider besieged by well-dressed coffee drinkers wanting his opinion on Miles Davis and Malcolm X.”

But, as long as there’s a deal to be made, there’s a deal to be made—as long as you can take it.

Rating: 7-8-7-7 Total= 29