This past summer, I was stunned to discover the blistering
and unapologetic Blues for Mister Charlie by James Baldwin.
The
play revolves around mounting racial tensions in a small Southern town in the
late 1950s after a white shopkeeper is accused of murdering a young, black
college student, evoking the real-life murder of Emmett Till. However, Baldwin
paints a nuanced picture by balancing the lives of the accused perpetrator
alongside the victim, Richard, a troubled addict, prone to inciting
violence.
Of course, this incendiary story feels as relevant today as
during the civil rights era when it was written. What astonished me most was
learning that this beautiful, difficult work has rarely been staged on
Broadway. Baldwin's exploration of racism, violence, and justice deserves to be
experienced by modern audiences.
An award-winning play from one of America’s most brilliant writers about a murder in a small Southern town, loosely based on the 1955 killing of Emmett Till. • "A play with fires of fury in its belly, tears of anguish in its eyes, a roar of protest in its throat." —The New York Times
James Baldwin turns a murder and its aftermath into an inquest in which even the most well-intentioned whites are implicated—and in which even a killer receives his share of compassion.
In a small Southern town, a white man murders a black man, then throws his body…
I took a deep dive into
Lovecraft’s oeuvre this year in an effort to make my way through Alan Moore’s
fantastic “Providence” (which constantly references HPL).
At the Mountains of Madness clearly stands
out as his magnum opus. After a long,
suspenseful trip to Antarctic wastelands, we discover an origin story for much
of Lovecraft’s entire mythos, in the form of the “Elder Gods”, who despite their utter otherness still invoke
our sympathies.
The love and detail
which Lovecraft puts into describing these creatures and what they were
attempting to do is mesmerizing, and I’m surprised how often I’ve returned to
this singular piece. If you only
read one HPL story, this vision of alien gods and lost civilizations will stay
with you long after you've turned the last page.
At the Mountains of Madness is a science fiction-horror novella by American author H. P. Lovecraft.
An expedition to Antarctica goes horribly wrong as a group of explorers stumbles upon some mysterious ancient ruins, with devastating consequences. At the Mountains of Madness ranks among Lovecraft's most terrifying novellas, and is a firm favourite among fans of classic horror.
Full
disclosure: I know Chip Chinery. We both grew up in Cincinnati and we both got
our “start” doing stand-up comedy as teenagers at a tiny, hole-in-the-wall
comedy club named d.w. eye at the onset of the burgeoning 80’s comedy club
boom.
What separates Chip’s memoir from other comedy
biographies is the almost obsessive level of detail he provides in recounting
his experiences as a young, Candide-like stand-up comic “finding himself” on
the difficult and lonely midwestern comedy circuit road. (And yes, familiar
comedy faces start to pop up regularly.) While dense with detail, this
endearing memoir provides a hilarious, unflinching look at the realities of
pursuing stand-up comedy far from home. For any aspiring comic, it's a
must-read.
In Plrknib Alex Bernstein takes the
I'm with the Band vibe from Almost Famous and flips it into I'm
with the Comics. The author of Miserable Holiday Stories brings
you back to 1980 to tell a coming-of-age story in the breakneck world of
stand-up comedy. At 16, Bernstein became the youngest regular at Cincinnati’s
premiere comedy club, d.w. eye. But as pressure to keep up with the older
comics grew, he looked for something – some edge – to help him compete. And
then he found one: "Plrknib" – the perfect joke. But using the joke
came with a terrible price. Set against the comedy boom of the early '80s, Plrknib is a breezy, bittersweet, and utterly compelling memoir
about love, friendship, and finding your own punchlines.
