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News and events from the eye of The OA.
The Spirit of The Singing Brakeman
As we scoured the web, dusty vinyl, and music books for material for the Mississippi music issue, we came across this interesting piece of Jimmie Rodgers trivia. Rodgers had a strange allure for members of the Kipsigi tribe of East Africa, who after intercepting a phonograph and some of The Singing Brakeman's records in the early '50s, came to revere him as a demigod of sorts. Convinced that no man could produce the sounds that Rodgers did in his recordings, the Kipsigis attributed them to a centaur-like spirit they called "Chemirocha." This half-man half-antelope was honored in fertility rites in which young Kipsigi maidens would dance seductively to the music in the hopes that Chemirocha will join them in dance. Who knew that a man from Meridian, Mississippi would be deified so?
This particular clip was collected by a British/South African coffee farmer named Hugh Tracey. For similar Chemirocha recordings, visit South Africa's University of KwaZulu-Natal page.
Reviewing the First-Ever Alchemy Songwriting Competition
Blackbird Academy, the arts-education nonprofit that sponsored the contest, reviewed over three hundred demo tapes, narrowing the applicants to a group of ten finalists. The showcase took place on the Hendrix College campus and was hosted by Becky Rogers, a disc jockey from local station B98.5. Rogers opened the competition by encouraging the small crowd to take out their phones, but not to turn them off: "If you're on Facebook, if you're on Twitter, let everyone know you're here. Take a picture of the crowd. We want it twice as big next year."
What the Faulkner They Thinking?
Clip from The Story of Temple Drake, a 1933 adaptation for the silver screen.
David Milch, the man behind such TV shows as NYPD Blue and the three HBO series, Deadwood, John from Cincinnati, and the upcoming horse-racing drama, Luck, has struck a deal with William Faulkner's estate allowing his company, Redboard Productions, to create TV series and films based on the nineteen novels and 125 short stories in Faulkner's oeuvre.
We aren't sure how one goes about adapting Faulkner's world on film, a world that is fluid, and in which characters move about in time and space. Faulkner had an unrivaled storytelling sensibility, and articulated the great intricacies, conventions, and dilemmas of the South and its people better than anyone before or since. We can only hope this newest attempt to reproduce Faulkner lives up to his achievements, and is better than previous attempts (listed below). It must also be noted that Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!, perhaps his greatest work, was released the same year as Gone With the Wind, which he despised for its misrepresentation and romanticizing of the South (perhaps because it eclipsed his novel, too!).
Films:
1. Today We Live (MGM, 1933), 113 minutes. Based on the short story, "Turn About."
2. The Story of Temple Drake (Paramount, 1933), 71 minutes. Based on Sanctuary.
3. Intruder in the Dusk (MGM, 1949), 87 minutes.
4. The Tarnished Angels (Universal-International, 1957), 91 minutes. Based on Pylon.
5. The Sound and the Fury (Twentieth Century-Fox, 1959), 115 minutes.
6. Sanctuary (Twentieth Century-Fox, 1961), 100 minutes.
TV:
1. Tomorrow (CBS-TV, first telecast March 7, 1960), 90 minutes. Based on the short story.
2. Barn Burning (PBS-TV, first telecast March 17, 1980), 41 minutes. Based on the short story.
3. Long Hot Summer (NBC-TV, first telecast October 6–7, 1985), 4 hours. Based on The Hamlet.
4. Old Man (CBS-TV, first telecast February 9, 1997), 2 hours.
New Walker Percy Documentary Premiere
Tonight, check the listings of your local PBS affiliate for the premiere of what looks to be a stunning new documentary on our very own Godfather of Southern Existentialism, Walker Percy. The doc is directed by New Orleans–based filmmaker Win Riley and features probing interviews with Percy experts, family, and fellow lit laureates, including narration from the hypnotic Richard Ford.
For more info, visit the PBS and film websites. Also, the doc is showing during Loyola's first-ever Conference of the Walker Percy Center for Writing and Publishing, taking place next weekend, October 14–16th, for readers and Percy nuts in the New Orleans area (or those willing to travel for their fix).
Hot Tip: Alabama Shakes
Yes, we know we're supposed to be moving on to the dedicated exploration of Mississippi music (something we usually do anyway)—but we just can't pass up the chance to share a good band when we find one. A few weeks ago, when The OA crew was throwing our final Alabama music concert in Tuscaloosa, we kept hearing about this neat little soul outfit from the Athens (Alabama) area called Alabama Shakes. When we finally got a chance to check them out, we couldn't believe our ears. Currently label shopping, the Shakes are most definitely a band to watch. Check out (and maybe purchase!) their self-released EP here.
We can't wait to hear more from them soon. This is the real deal, y'all.
