thats what i get out of being a writer - i want to be there

TUESDAY: ec osundu: post #2

i havent been keeping up with my posts lately, been sweating this adoption thing since i got back to syracuse and lamenting all the projects i should have done this summer

that are so far undone,

but i was chatting facebook with ec osundu this morning and thought
about some ec commentary that i didnt do in 1st one posting as i was in city library and on the family run and gun

i remember when ec 1st got to syracuse, he had applied 1 year and didnt make it, he came back
the 2nd, me and george decided we liked his grit and his work, we put him on the list

then he had visa issues, missed the 1st year, bummer, came the 2nd, everybody loved him,
brilliant writer, very professionarial in his manner, very arrogant and resistant to criticism

took him about a year before he let anybody tell him anything, me and ec used to joke about
his nigerian bonafides, even then he was trying to figure out how he would be able to stay in the states

joked about all his friends in the states were hustling this and that and ec lamented that he
was not upholding the nigerian reputation for being a hustler and i would tell him you a hustler man

look at all you had to do to get here, look at how hard you work at what you do, and he had brought his

family with him and was taking care of them on his student stipend, ec a hard working man, remind me of that bit everydog has its day but its the bulldog get the weekend, i told him you a literary hustler

and one day its gon pay off, so this morning we chatting on facebook and i told him yeah man, i started write (on facebook) that you were the greatest nigerian hustler on the set

but i didnt think other folk would appreciate/understand it like we do, he say he woulda sued me, said he got to take care of his image now, i say cool that would have been good publicity for both of us

ive become a facebook addict, friended cassandra wilson the other day, you know that tickled me, met her once some 15, 20 years ago, picnic with her once after a concert in central park, hit on her somewhat of course, but nothing came of it and we not really friends but ima big fan so it was nice to reestablish contact

what i really want to do on facebook is get a list of syracuse mfa students for the last 10 years or so from terri and do a syracuse mfa page so they will all know each other cause i know them all and have friended the ones i have found to point where i got a serious syracuse mfa contingent but they only know about 2 years ahead and 2 behind of each other so the earlirer ones dont know the later ones and vice versa and then im thinking how to i hook up the ones coming in this year into that su mfa network so i got to set up a network where they can start helping leverage each other to the literary promiseland - it would be so nice of forge of them a literary mob

another good organizing idea that i am likely not to follow thru on, organizing writers is more hassle than herding cats ever could be -

speaking of mobs, im out, i did a post on facebook the other day:

arthur rickydoc flowers confess an immodest aspiration to be a writer of historical stature and significance - despite all evidence to the contrary he believe he still has a shot - if he does not make it he will die surprised

the responses warmed my heart, folk i respect talking about you already are an important writer arthur, i have to say i didnt expect that, i was being ruminative, expressing a regret that i have not as yet lived up to my early potential, they made me blush, deep purple, gave me inspiration to get back on this novel,

as always going home threw me off my game

in struggle we trust

all my love

rdoc

SATURDAY

hello world, old boy back in the cuse, family crises kept me running
but you know that just means that family crises kinda consistent

but cause im not there i dont dig in until i am, which makes me feel guilty
ohwell, life is rough no matter how you cut it

efforts to adopt nephew out of foster care moving into closure, thats gon be
a challenge - transporting family drama to the cuse - ohwell

good news is that my girl randycrawford has a new cd out, no regrets, randy my all time favorite
i ordered her cd cause i have everything she ever did and digital just wont cut it, randy i want it all

randy one of the few folk whose work has evolved over time and is still current, got a voice like a bell

this one is another collaboration with joe sample and this one is bluesier than most - o joy

deep jazz and blues too - o joy

no cuts on youtube yet, had to go to the vaults

all my love

rdoc

WEDNESDAY

wow, has it been a week, family got me rolling

only got a minute now, still in the delta et al

i see that sryacuse grad ed osundu won the caine prize

way to go ec, looking good, looking real real good

caine prize big african prize, big dinner at oxford, 10,000 pounds, month at georgetown, bragging rights

the 5 finalists were

• Mamle Kabu (Ghana) ‘The End of Skill’ from ‘Dreams, Miracles and Jazz’, published by Picador Africa, Johannesburg 2008

• Parselelo Kantai (Kenya) ‘You Wreck Her’, from the St Petersburg Review, NY 2008

• Alistair Morgan (South Africa) ‘Icebergs’, from The Paris Review no. 183, NY 2008

• EC Osondu (Nigeria) ‘Waiting' from Guernicamag.com, October 2008

• Mukoma wa Ngugi (Kenya) ‘How Kamau wa Mwangi Escaped into Exile’, from ‘Wasafiri’ No54, Summer 2008, London

way to go ec, looking good

rdoc

WEDNESDAY MORNING:

about to hit the road for the delta, heard from oneko arica this morning when i did my last email check
drummer with band senta lain in kenya, hes in the states, hitting with pato banton

me and oneko hung tough one kwani/sls kenya couple of years ago

i did a performance with senta lain at the carnivore club in nairobi and it was one of the most

complete performances i ever did, it was amazing, 1st the carnivore itself is an amazing venue, hard to describe it, then the band, we did a full hit, and at one point michel played counterpoint to every word on his guitar, it was just incredible, one of the top 5 performance experiences ever for me and ive had some good ones

i bootlegged it so i had this terrible sound quality tape and have dreamed of bringing them to the states one day to hit with them again, if i die before doing that and folk trying to show some respect for my contribution, bring senta lain over to play at the throwdown

so anyway oneko tells me they have an cd out, he will send me a copy

i go on i tunes and download it right away cause i believe in supporting the arts and i want to encourage the industy to do more senta lain but im looking forward to a hardcopy from oneko

and i dont even collect cds anymore, ive sold most of my 1000s and only kept the ones that i consider special, a couple hundred, or ones that i would not be able to find easily should my digital collection ever get eaten by computer demons, but senta lain i want hardcopy

that performance was the 1st time i publicly performed as mganga maua, i had done a ritual performance earlier that day, this woman came up after and annointed me mganga maua, witchdoctor flowers she said, thats who you are

i tried some things that day, threw my little divination chain as part of the performance, the venue drove me to higher ground, specially since i was in east africa, i felt like higher ground was called for, birthplace of humanity and all that

it was reading about east african prophets that i was informed that the difference between a diviner and a prophet diviner in many of their cultures was that the diviner did private readings for clients, the diviner prophet also did public readings for the whole tribe

every since then i been trying to publicly manifest the prophetic, mganga maua in the house

it was senta lain that took that evening over the top, they provided the beat and i climbed on top of it

and we took the roof off the carnivore club, not that it has a roof anyway, it was a magical evening

im gone, i got to get on the road, all my love

rdoc

MONDAY

clocking pages more or less - look here, never ask god what next cause you liable to get an answer
sister has took sick down in the delta, my mothers full time care person down, that mean both of them in jeopardy

i got to go south

dont get no work done when i go to the delta, nothing but 1 family crises after the next
but what can you do except what you can, im gone, have to try to keep the big mo,

this morning i been listening to hugh masekela, there is one song of his remind me of safiya henderson holmes

when she was dying of cancer, some friend offered her a coolout weekend in hamptons so i drove her out
and it was one of the highpoints of my life, it took all day but me and safiya had a wonderful time

it was a memorable memory, the kind you live for - she died fairly soon after but there one masekela
everytime i hear it i think of safiya - she heard it 1st time that day & loved it, forced me to play it over and over

i complained vociferously but now everytime i hear it i feel the love -
i dont know the name of it, i call it trekking w/safiya

another favorite masekela of mine is send me, where he talk about struggle, say he want to be there when the people
turn it around, when they triumph... on a hunch i went to youtube and there it was, masekela, send me, talk about oldschool

must be masekela, cause im feeling the love now
for all of you, for my family, the world, everybody

thats what i get out of being a writer, writing books i hope
will serve the generations, its all about the love

i want to be there

Comments

[BuffaloSoldier]

FROM PRISON CAMPS AND SLAVERY, THIS BLACK MAN CAME TO BE. BuffaloSoldier salutes Big Brother Africa. Thorny issue time. First,
a question: Should there be something similar to the Caine Prize
for BlackAmerican writing? I'd love to know where we'd score, for
example, De MoJo Blues on that list. Second, concerning MK and the
earlier Mk version, Frankie Lymon. The Soldier maintains that when we
salute the Man instead of the Talent, we open outselves to attacks from Templars like O'Reilly. And when we cry RACE like Al Sharpton, somebody is going to point out the whiting of MK and his deliberate
selection of white men and women to sire his children. One thing, nobody ever questioned troubled What'sGoingOn Marvin Gaye's blackness.
No Need for an Al Sharpton to remind us, he's of us. By the way, Al,
the acsension of the LionKing had a lot to do with more than white
acceptance of MK.