SOUNDTRACK: ROBERT CRAY BAND-Tiny Desk Concert #246 (October 22, 2012).
Robert Cray is a well-respected blues singer. He has a smooth voice and a good bluesy guitar sound.
However, I don’t really like the blues all that much, so this Concert was simply fine to me. Cray’s band includes bassist Richard Cousins, keyboardist Jim Pugh and drummer Tony Braunagel, “who performs here by tapping a wooden box” (it’s one of those cool box drums).
They play three songs, “Sadder Days,” a sad slow blues with some beautiful guitar soloing. “(Won’t Be) Coming Home” is a faster, darker song about her leaving him.
“I’m Done Cryin'” is nearly ten minutes long and it is a pretty classic blues song with lengthy solos and much bemoaning that he is still a man. It’s got some good soling and, I imagine if you like the blues, this is a killer track.
[READ: July 20, 2016] “Naima”
I really didn’t enjoy this short story very much. It took a really long time before it did anything. I realize part of that is the nature of the story–building up characters and setting up the basis for the relationship–but it felt like half the story was just extraneous.
The crux of the story is that a boy’s mother has died. (For the first half of the story I was sure the main character was a girl, so I was quite shocked to find out otherwise). The boy was very close with his mother. His father was a joyful person while she was alive but in the short period since her death, the father has become very distant.
The only person the boy is close to is Naima, the maid. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 