WED 10/22
somebody been killing hoodoo. all over memphis hoodoos coming up dead . . .
first line of my detective novel
really enjoying the detective story even though its early draft, which i hatebut im learning so much, amazing that after 30 odd years of doing this
im still learning, i like that, cause its the same material, the same motifs i always do
but instead of high concept literature (think james joyce) im doing elmore leonard
dick burdett and walter mosley, ie, writing stuff somebody will actually read/buy
and dealing with character in a forthright manner heretofore beneath me
first person - its been a revelation, and because its contemporary i get to talk
about obama and the yahoos and everything, old boy just a macking
im having a literary ball doing this piece
starts off with line, somebody been killing hoodoo . .
seems somebody killing off hoodoos and as the high hoodoo of memphis
and a finder of lost things, he been tracking them down
finally hunts down the little street thug thats been doing it and showing
an alarming level of criminal sophistication for a street thug and when he
finds him he says, come on out, i need to talk to you
and the spirit of staggerlee rise up out of him and its
the conqueror vs staggerlee in a war for the soul of black memphis
will black memphis be defined by the hoodlum element amongst it
or will it the the afrospiritual side that defines its generations
im having a ball
seriously underwater but by god this iwhat i live for
rickydoc clocking pages
all my love
SATURDAY
hello world, you may have noticed i been out of the loop
still recovering the shock of being overlooked by the
macarthur folk again, it perplexes me, i thought it was a genius award
just kidding, i been underwater, forcemarching thru thousands odd pages
of unesco history of africa, after which i need to do unesco history of humanity
which is all really fascinating to me, my historical knowledge is being retooled
just wish i was a young man so i would have more years of use from all this new knowledge
but lets not go there
also got 5 gigs to prepare for, only one of which is a paying gig, im the free show
calypso king (trinidad rio), and then i get an email from ec osundu, he say the
ancestors told him i should put the literary work down and do a hoodoo detective series
based in memphis, this was deep, i have been fighting off that idea for years and just
the day before had rejected it one more time - the problem is you pick up a project
like that, you think its going to be an easy kill and it never is, always cost more than
you had planned to pay, but if the ancestors say do it i guess ima do it
jonathon conquer, hoodoo detective, the case of the missing haint
m enjoying it even though its that frustrating early concept stage
but you know i cant 'put the literary works down' ima keep working
on the hoodoo book of flowers, which at this point is mostly research
so its doable, just that what little discreationary time i had is not gone
my fear is that it will be a ho hum detective novel that will join the ranks of the remainders
but what the hell, if i cared about the odds i wouldnt be a writer in the first place
there was this great article in the nytimes about the benefits of reading literary works
some scientists did an experiment that proved that reading literary works make you
more empathatic, more attunded ot the human condition, in a way that commercial works
did not, i knew this of course but its always good to see confrmation in black & white
im gone, i got so much work to do
mostly schoolhouse, it never ends
one perfomrance down: a libation for njeri mugo
coming up: memphis vietnam gig, storytelling panel at schoolhouse,
honors presentations, promseland presentation - every gig i do, paid
or not, require extensive preparation, have to figure out what ima say, then i
have to figure out how ima say it, then i have to practice, over & over
so when i get up on stage it flow, when you go on stage, nervousness always eats
away about 30% of your effectiveness, so you have to be around 120% prepared
if you want to survive the stage
kinda the same way for class and conferences, of which i have two today
i got to go
rdoc
FRIDAY
let me see if i can do some prognosticating:
repub leadership, unhappy w/defund strat pushed by tea party wing, will offer shortterm CRs (continuing resolutions funding gov) to give themselves more time to surrender w/o shutdown so they can segue to debt limit bill
to get teaparty support they loading debtlimit bill w/rightwing goodies, which might or might not work but shutdown is political suicide & they think debt limit gives them more room to play - problem is defund + debt limit is stacking foolishness on foolishness, i dont ssee how they can flip this
if obama got the sense god gave a turkey he will refuse to budge on defund or debt limit and let them take the fall - if you cant bend them, got to break them
i got to go, got so many moves in play now
that im feeling a little paralyzed wondering
what to do when, did hbof this morning
so i got a little room to play
all my love
rdoc
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