Book of Towers Pt. 9: The incomparable Nina Simone

Nina, Nina, what an incredible autobiography she released in 1991, titled 'I Put a Spell on You'. Not only did she live a prolific life as a singer, she was a survivor. She lived through some harsh times, went through various romantic relationships and battled with bipolar. She had a enstranged relationship with her daughter and had survived an abusive marriage. She speaks about her relationship with her dad and how much she admired him and how it turned sour later on after a certain incident. The book covers a good amount in its 176 pages.

She was very outspoken, an intense and captivating performer on stage. In her bio though you get to hear from her who trained her as a piano player, how she worked her way into the music scene; the many people she met and how she lived as a black woman in America when racial tension was very high.

One of the things that stuck out for me was how much she loved music, writing songs, singing it and how she was pushed to exhaustion while performing. Music was her anchor it seemed.

The book paces well which makes it engaging from page one!

Poetry Books!

So I've began writing poetry at the age of 10, ever since then I continued to write poetry, even though when I began to write screenplays, the poetry slowed down but I would find myself grabbing a napkin or a piece of paper and write a poem. I love poetry and the ones that are masters at it continue to inspire me.

My favorite poet is Pablo Neruda. And I just began to start reading Audre Lorde. I'm enjoying her writing.

Therefore over the years I've written many poems that cover love, faith, pain, loss, romance, relationships, violence and death. I've been wanting to complete a poem book, ready to publish, since 2000. So yes, it's been 16 years in the making and now I've decided it's about that time to go hard, with full force, to finished not just one but two poem books. Over these decades a lot has accumulated inside of me and as a storyteller/artist I am to respond and express my thoughts, inner emotions about what has been happening around us globally but esp. here in America.

As of right now both poem books are untitled. One will deal with Christianity and the various aspects of it and the other poem book will explore world events and the injustices in the world, esp. in America.

More to come!

Book of Towers Pt 7: James Baldwin

James Baldwin. Baldwin. Jimmy. What comes to mind when you hear his name? When you hear his name what do you think of? Maybe after reading David Leeming's biography book on the one of a kind Mr. Baldwin those thoughts and images may be expanded to more deeper things (lack of a better word). Deeper things-in a good way-because this book takes us from when Mr. Baldwin was a child to his grave (who was at the funeral, what songs were sung during the funeral service, etc.).

The last 10 pages for me were heartbreaking, emotional, hard to read at times, but by the end you feel like you've experience a man's struggles, pain, delights, complexity during his immense involvement in social change in America and how his work effected many around the globe (Paris, Africa and Istabul).

Mr. Baldwins' insight in America, world events, race, ghettos, literature, injustice, history, etc. is incredible, his commentary is always fascinating to listen to. He could be many things to many people and as the years went on Mr. Baldwin became a mentor to the future generation which I thought was very cool and important. This shows the depth of his work and what he meant to various age groups and his encounters with people and the entourage he'd have, this defined him as far as how he treated people and what he stood for is something that became clearer as I read the book.

It's a 300+ book that is worth every page. And since I'm a writer there were lines in the book that I could relate to, so how David Leeming (he'd known James Baldwin for over 20 years) describes the lifestyle and the mindset of a writer and the sacrifices that a writer has to experience is captured and explained well.

I've read a good amount of his books (novels/essays) so far (and looking forward to reading certain ones over again), but I'm really looking forward to reading his last novel 'Just Above My Head'. The way it's described in the bio it sounds like it all come together in his last novel-it was his longest too. The works he didn't get done are mentioned in the book, which is also interesting, because it reminds me of one Mr. Baldwins' poems where he says 'time is not money, time is time, like everything is everything...'

Here is a passage that has stuck with me since I finished reading the book:

'He [James Baldwin] reminded his brother [David Baldwin] that racism is based on fear, that when the white racist confronts the black man, what he sees is not the individual man but a "nightmare" of his own creation. Above all, he said, "you must take care not to step inside" his nightmare, his guilt, and his fear, his hatred. To step into the nightmare is to justify it and to relinquish the soul's freedom and the control over one's life. To enter the nightmare is to become a "nigger".

I didn't know he tried to kill himself more than once, didn't know he preached for three years when he was a teenager, faced violence and that he left new york to go to Paris with very little money, and a bessie smith record. He had to write. He told his mother at the age of 8 that he was going to be a great writer someday and that it was all he wanted to do.

Thank you David Leeming for writing such a magnificent biographical book!

Book of Towers 5: I, Fellini

Charlotte Chandler is an incredible biographer. Reading 'I, Fellini', has been so liberating. Fellini seems to be so open, so blunt, and transparent no matter what he discusses in this revealing biography. It's easily one of the best psychological intrusions about what a director experiences while making films.

'When I am working on a film, that's the time I am bombarded by the greatest number of outside ideas, ideas not for the film on which I am working. That would be natural, to have ideas for the film in which I've involved, but the ideas that come knocking are for other stories, entirely different ones. These ideas are actually competing for energy, actually a synergy of ideas. The creative forces are let loose, but the creative spirits do not know anything about discipline...the important thing is that you have to be open to life. If you are, the possibilities are infinite. It's important to preserve your innocence and your optimism, especially when it's not easy.'   -Fellini

The brilliance of the book is how Charlotte is able to make her subject very relaxed around her. Fellini embodied film; he started out as a cartoonist, met a wonderful woman-Giulietta Masina-who was a excellent actress and they worked together to created award winning films. He received his life achievement award but still struggled to get financing for his films.

There were things he mentioned-like the quote above-that I could really relate to. I was so touched and moved by his relationship with Giulietta. And towards the end of his life it became very rough-physically-and Giulietta remained by his side.

'Giulietta' always worried about me. She made sure my socks matched, wondered if my feet were wet so I wouldn't catch a cold. It's really the countless little things that make or break a marriage. Even when we quarreled, I knew she cared about me. No one else meant so much in my life.'   -Fellini

I began to watch Fellini's films back in college. It's the excellent combination of music and image; his films I found to be light, fun, entertaining but can also be sad and troubling-the incredible sequence in 'La dolce Vita' -when Marcello's character runs into his dad. The end result of their scene was unexpected. The last scene in 'La Strada' is surprisingly uplifting. There are several sequences in '8 1/2' that are monumental-the camera work is brilliant throughout the whole film. The scene in the castle in 'La dolce Vita' is incredibly paced. Fellini talks about improvisation-which many people think he did a lot of on his set-which isn't true. Many thought he just made a lot up on the day of...but Fellini was very well prepared but remained open because you can miss out on something special that wasn't planned.

There so much that I can mentioned that I really enjoyed in the book but it's best you just read it, even if you're not a fan but a cinema lover. And this is not to say that I agreed with everything he said, because I don't but it's his honesty about what it is to be a director-that's what fascinates me. He knew the importance of the responsibility that the director beheld.

'Freedom can be a problem, because being a director of films is a responsibility, and responsibility and freedom are in conflict. The money of the few and the lives of the many are in my hands. Films have such power to influence; that, too, is responsibility.'  -Fellini