SOUNDTRACK: JESSE BOYKINS III-“4 U 2 B Free” (Field Recordings, October 8, 2014).
This Field Recording [Jesse Boykins III Breaks It Down] starts with a lot of ambient noise–a giant overhead fan–which I thought might be an interesting component to the song. But once Boykins starts singing, it’s just his voice. And that’s all–it’s a lovely a capella performance.
The day after playing a set at the Superdome during the Essence Music Festival this summer, eclectic R&B singer Jesse Boykins III wandered into Mardi Gras World — an expansive, airy warehouse packed wall to wall with floats used in New Orleans’ infamous parades. The floats are built from the ground up in-house, so Boykins found himself surrounded by unfinished works and spare parts.
It’s creepy and unsettling to see these giant heads–eyeballs at eyeball height, but just a head–staring at you. It’s also surreal with the various colors and shapes and the head of Abraham Lincoln looking on as Jesse sings.
He sang one of the most emotional tracks from his latest album a cappella. While singing “4 U 2 B Free,” Boykins pulled back the layers of his own creation, matching his performance to the exposed, oddly vulnerable characters surrounding him.
But Boykins’ performance is really powerful especially at the end as his wonderful high notes as if no no one is watching.
[READ: October 4, 2017] “Enter the Ford: Lost Chapters from A Death in the Family”
I knew nothing about this book, so I had to look it up.
The first chapter sees a young by, Rufus, waking up wearily with his dad. The boy is very excited and the father seems pretty delighted to be awake with his son so early. They try their best not to wake the baby girl or the mom. Of course the mom wakes up and asks for the dad to do some things before he leaves. The dad makes breakfast–with stern admonitions to the boy not get burnt by the coffee pot, bacon or stove–and then he helps the boy with the difficult buttons.
We don’t know too much about the dad yet, but this exchange is interesting:
“You’re getting pretty good, buttoning yourself.” he said. Rufus said nothing.
His father thought damn fool thing to tell a child; dumb as a fish.
In the second chapter they head out to Chilhowee Park and the entire chapter is given over to the most exquisite descriptions of this amusement park through the eyes of Rufus. Everything is amazing and wonderful and the language is of a person taking everything in–from the color of the lake to the swans on the water to the roller coaster and the fairy’s wheel.
And then came the merry-go-round. We learn how first Rufus rode only on the bench. And then was allowed to ride the horses that did not go up and down. And then on the up and down horses only if his dad was holding on. And finally, today, to ride the up and down one by himself. The amount of detail about the merry-go round is wonderful.
The only thing more wonderful than the merry-go-round was the little train. We hear his father’s kind words about how amazing the train is.
Then things go sour a little because there’s also the arcades–where adults play games of chance. There’s games that one never won–like the seventeen jewel watch. But the worst was a place where there was “a darky with his head through a hole.” And the people were meant to, as the carny said, “hit the nigger in the head and you get a cigar.”
Rufus’ mom hated this game. And Jay wasn’t too keen on it either. The one time they were there, Jay conceded that the man’s got to make money some way. Jay tried to ease his wife’s concerns by showing her that the ball wasn’t that hard. He lifted it up but she refused to even touch it. The carny got mad at him for touching the ball. And Jay got huffy back. She calmed him and he walked away.
But on this visit, he did not back down. the carny did. And that made Jay’s day even better.
Chapter 3
This chapter opens with Jay and his wife, Laura, talking about something extravagant. She wants it, he doesn’t seem to want it and he seems to twist her words against her.
It comes out that he wants to get a car so that they can visit the in-laws once in a while. She is nervous that cars are dangerous. He admits they are but sometimes living in a house is dangerous. But he says that having a wife and kids means he will be even more careful than everyone else out there who has nothing to be careful about.
She agrees to the car. But in the middle of the night she has a premonition of something bad happening to the family in the car. He says that they won’t get one. Then later she gets over the premonition and agrees that they should go ahead and get one.
Chapter Four.
And then daddy drove home in a gas buggy–a new ford Rufus is thrilled. Laura can’t believe he drove it there all by himself. And the neighbors all come out to gawk.
“Course they got an awful name for breaking down… But where Ford’s ahead, he supplies you the parts.”
They go for a before-dinner ride. Jay drives very well and everyone is enjoying themselves. Laura is nervous and says so, but he is careful and considerate of them. He pulls over when another car comes by and he is very cautious around a horse and buggy–the horse is not spooked at all. But their joy ridge is somewhat ruined by a speed demon who comes buzzing by them scaring them all half to death.
As the excerpt ends, Jay and Rufus take the car out for a spin and Jay really lets the speed fly. They almost have an accident but Jay is able to handle it and he confides in the boy that they must never tell their mom that they went fast. He agrees.
I don’t actually know much else about this story. Between the title and what kind of tension a scene like this builds I expected something bad to happen. It never did (hooray), but i assume it does),
The writing in this story was exceptional.
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SOUNDTRACK: APANHADOR SÓ-“Prédio” (Field Recordings, May 13, 2015).
Apanhador Só is from Brazil. At the beginning of the video you see the guys in the band gathering…junk. Childen’s toys boxes of refuse and homemade instruments.
I Just Read About That... 